A STUDENT, who lost money in a phone scam, faked his own kidnapping in a bid to cheat his parents of their retirement savings, China Press reported.
His parents received a video, which showed him crying, and another person – supposedly the kidnapper – threatening to chop off the fingers of their 21-year-old son if the ransom was not paid.
But the parents in Negri Sembilan decided to lodge a police report as they had no means to settle the ransom.
Police, after watching the video, suspected that it could be a fake.
They managed to locate the youth at a hotel near the university where he was studying.
Eventually, he told the police that he had faked his own kidnapping.
He claimed that he was a victim of a phone scam and that the scammers, upon realising that he had no way to pay them RM6,000, made him stage the kidnapping to get the money from his parents.
Seremban deputy police chief Supt Mohd Rosli Ishak said they were investigating the case under Section 385 of the Penal Code for extortion.
The student, who was released after being remanded for two days, was also a victim of a scam, he said.
> Taiwanese YouTuber Joeman has made a public apology for smoking marijuana, Oriental Daily reported.
Joeman recorded a video and admitted that he used marijuana recreationally in Taiwan and in other countries.
“I knowingly broke the law. That was my mistake,” he said after being released without bail
The YouTuber, along with influencers Lyla Ho and DJ Tang Yu, were arrested by police on Monday on suspicion of marijuana possession.
However, he claimed that he had not used the drug for a very long time.
Joeman also apologised to his mother in the video.
“I should not hurt you this way,” he said.
He warned his viewers not to buy or use marijuana even for recreation purposes.
“Even if you are under a lot of stress, please do not resort to breaking the law by buying and smoking marijuana,” he said.
● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ' >'sign, it denotes a separate news item.
