Over-the-top April Fool’s Day blackmail prank lands Beijing man in jail

A man in Beijing who said he pulled a misguided April Fool’s Day prank on a doctor by writing a blackmail letter and demanding 600,000 yuan (US$91,300) was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in jail for the poor decision.

The man, identified only by his family name Wu, was accompanying his wife, who is a doctor, on a night shift on April 1, 2019 when he decided to pull the prank on the chief of the neurology department of the hospital, identified only by his family name Zhong, according to a statement issued by the Beijing People’s High Court on March 30, 2021.