Maria Veloso: Woman Fakes Kidnapping To Get Dad’s Money
Maria Veloso thought she could get away with staging her own kidnapping. She wanted her dad’s money, but instead, she got something worse, and is still in debt.
Debt and other stresses can tend to bring out a darker side of people. As it seems in this particular case, family isn’t a factor in moral accountability.
This particular Chilean woman cooked up a plan to extort a sizable amount of money from her father. According to News Limited – Australia, Maria Veloso actually hired someone to help her pull off the kidnapping scheme.
The man she hired is 40-year-old petty crook Ricardo Ponce. Both Ponce and Veloso devised a ruse in which they’d split the ransom 50/50. Maria allegedly planned to pay off $28,000 in debts with her half.
At first, Maria had him contact her dad demanding a payment of $70,000. After the father received the call, he didn’t really believe the kidnapping story, as reports News Limited – Australia. However, the criminal duo took it up a notch and sent fake hostage photos via WhatsApp.
In the photos, Maria Veloso was blindfolded with her mouth taped shut and ears covered.
Formalizada por estafa quedó una mujer de 38 años, identificada como María Fernanda Olivares Veloso, quien… http://t.co/2fT3sMDtmv
— Periódico La Mirada (@PeriodicoMirada) June 1, 2015
While it could’ve been convincing to unfamiliar eyes, Maria’s father still wasn’t buying it and contacted the police. According to Police Commissioner Nelson Arias, he knew something was eerie due to the lack of kidnappings in Chile.
“It got my attention because Chile is not a country of professional kidnappers. This is why we thought things may not be what they seem. The father said a man called saying he had kidnapped his daughter and that he needs to pay $70,000 if he wants to see her alive.
He initially thought this was a fake story. Then they sent him WhatsApp photos where he saw his daughter tied and with her eyes covered.”
Well, the police went along with the kidnapping ransom and agreed to meet them for pick-up. The money was supposed to be retrieved in a black suitcase on Espana Boulevard, in Vina del Mar, Chile, according to Mirror.
However, upon arrival, Maria and Ricardo were arrested on charges of fraud. For now, they’re being kept in police custody for 90 days.
As far as the potential crime which could’ve been committed, do you think a three-month sentence was enough for Maria’s attempt to con her father out of approximately $100,000? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, below.
[Photo Credits: Twitter]
