When you’re on vacation, sometimes you don’t want it to stop. An English man vacationing in Thailand ran out of money and tried extorting more from his family back home by faking his own kidnapping.
Ian Robbie Day was living the dream on vacation in Pattaya, Thailand, known as the party capital of the country, until he finally ran out of money. After repeatedly prolonging his exotic vacation and asking his family back home to send him more money, the 48-year-old found himself broke with nothing left to burn on booze, drugs, and other local pleasures.
When his family refused to send him more funds, he devised a plan with his friends to stage his own kidnapping and ask his family for ransom money.
Day convinced his partying friends to punch him in the face and leave him bruised up so that the photos he sent his family back home appeared genuine. Some of his friends also posed as the kidnappers in the pics, to make the story more believable.
The trick ended up working, except instead of receiving the ransom money, his family panicked and notified the police about his kidnapping. Interpol was able to quickly track him down at a hotel in Pattaya and put together a strike team to rescue the man.
When they breached the door to his room, they found Day drunk and drugged up partying alongside his would-be kidnappers. “The guy chatted in iMessage and FaceTime with his relatives in the UK,” Police Lieutenant Colonel Sorasak Saengcha said.
He added: “He sent pictures of himself being attacked, and then after with injuries, he took pictures of himself looking like he had been beaten up. His friends would punch him and give him bruises on his face, then he would video call his family on FaceTime. He asked his three friends to act like they were kidnappers holding him hostage. He made them wear masks in the videos and act like gangsters.”
The police found Day on January 26, 2024, when he was reportedly in the middle of a two-day drug binge with three other foreigners. Everyone involved was arrested on charges of possessing unauthorized firearms and ammunition, possession of category one drugs, and having expired visas.
Source: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/brit-tourist-faked-abduction-seedy-31994537