An American woman has been arrested in Delhi, India, after faking her own kidnapping.
Chloe McLaughlin, 27, from Washington DC, had run out of money while travelling and allegedly wrote ransom emails to convince her parents to send money.
After her arrival in India on 3 May, she informed her family through an email and a video call that she was in an “unsafe environment” and facing threats of physical and emotional abuse, according to the Indian Express.
She then followed up with requests for ransom payments and a video call on 10 July, in which she appeared to be asking for money under duress.
Once her parents contacted the local American embassy and the Indian police, Ms McLaughlin’s plan began to unravel.
Investigators were able to find her location from the IP address from which the ransom emails and calls were sent, which led them to an apartment in Noida, a city on the outskirts of Delhi.
“The woman, the daughter of a former US army officer, had staged the incident to emotionally blackmail her parents,” deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi) Amrutha Guguloth told the Hindustan Times.
Ms McLaughlin was found living with an accomplice, a 31-year-old man she had met online.
Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro, from Nigeria, and Ms McLaughlin had struck up a friendship in May and bonded over their shared love of music. The pair had begun living together after meeting on social media.
The family forwarded all the information to the New Delhi District Cyber Unit, and police began their investigation after the US Embassy forwarded the family’s complaint to them.
Ms McLaughlin reportedly confessed to the plot after Mr Okoro’s arrest.
“After her rescue, it was revealed that she had staged the incident to blackmail her parents,” New Delhi’s deputy commissioner of police, Amrutha Guguloth, told the Indian Express.
Mr Okoro is reportedly an actor and performer who first arrived in India in 2017. Both were found to be overstaying visas and the man’s passport was reportedly expired. Officials say that legal action with respect to their overstaying in India is being taken.
