History Main / FakedKidnapping

* Joe Bonanno, [[TheMafia boss of the Bonanno crime family from 1931 to 1968]], allegedly pulled off this in late 1964 by hiding from rival bosses after they got wind of his plot to become the mob's overlord. At the same time, he was facing a subpoena from the feds, who were investigating OC activities in the aftermath of the Valachi hearings. In a later interview, while Bonanno claimed that he was held captive in upstate New York by his cousin, Stefano Magaddino, boss of the Buffalo mob at the time, this was contradicted by bugged convos between bosses in other families, who were surprised by this and felt he staged it just to avoid them. Given that Bonanno mysteriously resurfaced and surrendered to authorities in May 1966, it is very likely that during this timeframe, he was actually hiding in different safehouses with armed bodyguards as he was a marked man.

* The ''Series/{{Tracker}}'' episode "Trust". Cole gets caught up in what appears to be the kidnapping of a rich girl. The first time, the money didn't make it to the 'kidnappers' because the fugitives landed on Earth and one of the bodies that was taken was Darius, the con man delivering the money. Nestov didn't know what to do so he went to Cole. Cole and Mel attempt to locate the girl, but they eventually discover she faked it because she was ticked her dad cut off her money supply. She ends up getting stuffed in the trunk by Cole so she can be turned in.

* PlayedWith in an episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}''. A woman works with her sister to kidnap her own daughter. She considers her husband a freeloader, but fears he'd be given custody and alimony payments if they divorced; by making him appear irresponsible by losing their daughter, she assured herself of the former, while paying out the ransom (to herself) assured the courts would think she wouldn't have anything left to pay him, and if she ''did'' get caught, she couldn't be punished because letting your sister watch your child isn't illegal. Beckett points out that she still violated her husband's custodial rights by keeping his daughter from him (to say nothing of filing a false police report) so she's still very much guilty of a real kidnapping. They do note that a jury is likely to find her motives sympathetic and may choose not to convict her.

** Also used in case 4 of ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations''. [[spoiler:Dahlia Hawthorne, Valerie Hawthorne, and Dahlia's boyfriend]] did this to ransom a $2 million diamond.

* A ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'' storyline had Mr Freeze freeze the wife of a banker, and demand a sizeable ransom to defrost her safely. It turned out the whole thing was a scam by the couple, and the woman had actually commissioned an ''ice sculpture'' of herself for Freeze to display, and then fled the country before it all started.
* Martineau of ''ComicBook/{{Copperhead}}'' plays this by claiming to be taken hostage by Clay, acting as his human shield until they make it to a getaway vehicle.
* One [[Characters/MarvelComicsCaptainUniverse Captain Universe]] story in ''ComicBook/MarvelSpotlight1979'' centers around the kidnapping of district attorney Edward Stanford by the masked gangster Nemesis. Except that Stanford ''is'' Nemesis and it's been staged to help him murder his sister-in-law, a private detective who's testifying against. Nemesis's gang.
* This is part of Ava Lord's WoundedGazelleGambit to get Dwight to murder her husband in the ''ComicBook/SinCity'' story ''A Dame To Kill For''. [[spoiler:It works.]]
* This is the climactic twist of the ''ComicBook/HumanTarget'' OGN, Final Cut. Ronan was kidnapped by [[spoiler: his own father Frank, who was just hoping to get ransom money from his wife to cover gambling debts]] — but when Chance tracks down where Ronan is being kept, the cage is empty. Somebody else learned of the plot and took him somewhere.

* Two examples happen in ''LightNovel/MayoChiki''.

[[folder:Visual novels]]

* Joe Bonanno, [[TheDon boss of the]] [[TheMafia Bonanno crime family from 1931 to 1968]], allegedly pulled off a phony kidnapping stunt. He did this to hide from rival bosses after they got wind of his plot to eliminate them on the Commission, the American Mafia's governing body, and [[BigBadWannabe to become the mob's overlord]]. At the same time, he was facing a subpoena from the feds, who were investigating organized crime activities in the aftermath of the Valachi hearings. He was already unpopular with his peers, as aside from the attempted putsch, some of them even wondered if he was making moves on their own territories because of his greed; even his henchmen grumbled that he spent too much time in Arizona and Canada while ignoring the family rackets in New York. On October 21, 1964, Bonanno mysteriously vanished and wasn't heard again for two years. Bonanno, in a later interview, claimed that he was kidnapped in front of his lawyer's apartment at Park Avenue and was held captive in upstate New York by his cousin, Stefano Magaddino, boss of the Buffalo mob at the time. After Bonanno mysteriously vanished, the Commission named one of his capos, Gaspar [=DiGregorio=], as successor, but this didn't bode well with Bonanno's son Bill, who was TheConsigliere. This triggered an internal MobWar called the Banana Split (so-called because of Bonanno's nickname, [[EmbarrassingNickname to which he despised]]), but little to no action took place until a sitdown between the two factions in 1966 turned out to be an attempted hit on Bill; [=DiGregorio=] was rebuked for this and was permanently shelved. The attempted hit also forced Bonanno to come out of hiding in May 1966, when he showed up mysteriously at Foley Square, claiming he was grabbed on the street by Magaddino's men. He was indicted for failing to appear before the grand jury but challenged it for five years until it was dismissed in 1971. The shootings intensified, and it would go on until Bonanno suffered a heart attack in mid-1968 and was forced to step down and move to Arizona, naming another of his capos, Paul Sciacca, as his successor. Although his kidnapping is now part of Mafia lore, it is certainly BlatantLies as bosses such as Sam "the Plumber" [=DeCavalcante=], Raymond Patriarca, Tony Accardo, and Angelo Bruno were unaware of Bonanno's kidnapping stunt, while his henchmen complained that he went AWOL and didn't care about them.

* In the ''Series/JonathanCreek'' episode "Angel Hair", a woman dating a married man seemingly drops a videotape of her being kidnapped, when she obviously hasn't been, apparently having intended to stage her kidnapping later. [[spoiler: Except it was a fake fake kidnapping; the man's wife had hooked the TV up to a live feed of the victim in a van in genuine distress, "found" the tape, and then recorded the feed while supposedly watching the tape. Unfortunately, the kidnappers got a bit carried away, leading to a continuity error when they cut off ''all'' her hair, thereby creating a mystery that led to the husband getting Jonathan involved.]]

* Wiki/TheOtherWiki has a list of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kidnappings#Faked_kidnappings people who have done this]] for various reasons.

As this trope is a PlotTwist, there are '''spoilers ahead''' in the examples.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse:'' In "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E11FolliesAtTheCovenDayParade Follies at The Coven Day Parade]]", not only does Luz do this to Kikimora, but apparently got the idea from the InUniverse book series ''The Good Witch Azura''.

* This is the climactic twist of the ''ComicBook/HumanTarget'' OGN, Final Cut. Ronan was kidnapped by [[spoiler: his own father Frank, who was just hoping to get ransom money from his wife to cover gambling debts]] — but when Chance tracks down where Ronan is being kept, the Cage is empty. Somebody else took him somewhere.