SINGAPORE – A Chinese tourist was in Singapore when his aunt back home received text messages last week from an unknown person, claiming that her nephew had been kidnapped and asked for a 30,000 yuan (S$5,630) ransom.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) was alerted and, within three hours, officers found the purported kidnap victim, Liu Changjian, 33, safe and sound in the Marina Bay area.

It turned out that the Chinese national had allegedly staged his own kidnapping to recoup his gambling losses of up to $30,000.

Liu was hauled to court on March 11 and charged with one count of attempted cheating.

According to court documents, Liu allegedly attempted to cheat his aunt when he was at the Marina Bay Sands Casino between March 7 and 8.

The police said in a statement that he had entered Singapore on March 1 and was supposed to return to China five days later but failed to do so.

Liu’s aunt later received the text messages via messaging platform WeChat.

The police added: “In the text messages, the unknown person forwarded the photo of the man’s travel document as proof.”

Liu’s aunt alerted his father, who was also in China, and he called the SPF for assistance shortly before 7pm on March 9.

After an investigation, officers managed to locate Liu around Marina Bay later that evening.

Investigations revealed that he had gambling debts of between $20,000 and $30,000.

In their statement, the police said: “The man pretended to be someone else and staged his own kidnap. He sent threatening messages to his aunt in hopes to receive the ransom money.

“However, no ransom was paid to him or anyone else, and his mobile devices were seized in connection to the case.”

Liu’s pre-trial conference will be held on March 25.

Offenders convicted of attempted cheating can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.