Mom fakes 4 ‘kidnappings’ of son for ransom

Mom fakes 4 ?'kidnappings' of son for ransom
Spanish woman got boy's father to pay $1.26M in ransom, paper reports

Reuters

Updated: 7:45 a.m. PT Oct 13, 2006

MADRID - A Spanish woman staged fake kidnappings of her son four times and got his father to pay her more than a million euros ($1.26 million) in ransom money, newspaper El Mundo reported on Friday.

Police in the southern Spanish city of Seville arrested the woman and five accomplices, including the 15-year-old son who cooperated in the deception by calling his father on the telephone and begging him to pay up.

The father paid ransoms after the first three fake abductions without realizing the involvement of his son's mother, from whom he had separated. He became suspicious the fourth time and hired a private detective, El Mundo reported.