Faked Kidnapping: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

People are willing to do anything for the safety of a friend or loved one. If you're the friend or loved one, you can play this to your advantage for material or emotional gain. All you have to do is "disappear," leave a ransom note, and everyone will think you're being held captive. The best part is you don't have to put yourself in actual danger to get the benefits of people going out of their way to save you.

* ''[[Mobile Fighter G Gundam]]'': Maria Louise does this with the help of Domon in order for the latter to fight George de Sand. However, George later reveals he knew about that anyways.

* This is part of Ava Lord's [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]] to get Dwight to murder her husband in the ''[[Sin City]]'' story ''A Dame To Kill For''.

* ''[[Modesty Blaise (comic strip)|Modesty Blaise]]'': In "Milord", journalist Guido Biganzoli plans to fake his own kidnapping in order to get a big story that will get him transferred back to Italy. However, things do not go according to plan and it turns into an [[Accidental Kidnapping]] of Willie Garvin.

* In ''[[Oliver and Company]]'', the dogs take back Oliver, thinking he had been captured, when in fact he had been adopted by [[Lonely Rich Kid]] Penny. When Fagin sees the direction in the collar, he sends a ransom note there in order to pay off Sykes. He changes his mind when Penny arrives with her piggy bank, and simply gives Oliver back. This is followed by the all-too-real kidnapping of Penny by Sykes.

* ''[[Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island]]'': Simone and Lena fake a breaking and entering and kidnapping. When the gang come to rescue them, it turns out to be a trap.

* ''[[The Big Lebowski]]'' has the Dude and his friend Walter Sobchak do a favor for Mr. Lebowski by solving the kidnapping of his young trophy wife following Mr. Lebowski being sent her faked toe and giving the apparent kidnappers a ransom bribe. Subverted in that the poor slut did not kidnap herself but {{spoiler|went missing for a few days while her friends sent a ransom note to take advantage of her absence}}.

* ''[[Excess Baggage]]''. Emily Hope fakes her own kidnapping to get her father's attention. She handcuffs herself and puts herself in the trunk of her car, but a criminal steals the car while she's in it and the fake kidnapping turns into a real one.

* The ''[[A to Z Mysteries]]'' book "The Absent Author" revolves around the kidnapping of the eponymous mystery author. Turns out the whole thing was a hoax in order for the author to investigate how real kids solve mysteries.

* An episode of ''[[CSI]]'' focused on the death of a girl who'd been unfortunately involved in the fake kidnapping of another girl. They couldn't find the live girl and were warned that she was faking in an effort to gain attention from her father, but they had to find her to be sure. {{spoiler|She turned up dead in the trunk of a car - but the kidnapping really had been fake. The death was accidental}}.

* ''Mathnet'' (a segment on ''[[Square One TV]]'' parodying ''[[Dragnet]]''): an aging diva fakes a kidnapping by an up and coming ingenue in order to revive her career. Unfortunately for the diva, the ingenue (named [[All About Eve|Eve]]) happens to be a friend of Kate Monday of the Mathnet squad.