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BRISBANE - An Australian man is returning home after being held to ransom in the West African country of Mali in an internet dating scam.
It is believed the 56-year-old Adelaide man had travelled to Mali to meet a woman he met online but when he arrived he was held for $100,000 ransom, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said today.
Fairfax newspapers have described how within an hour of arriving the man - who has asked not to be named - was stripped naked, a gun pointed at his head, while gangsters brandished machetes in his face.
He had gone to Mali to meet a woman named Natacha and to be given $100,000 in gold, Fairfax reported.
Instead, the men demanded he pay them $100,000 or have his limbs hacked off one by one.
He was able to make phone calls and send emails to family and friends in Australia asking them to send him money, but he could not reveal that he was being held captive, Fairfax reported.
The AFP said it was alerted to the emergency by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on July 29 after the man's family and friends raised their concerns.
AFP and South Australia Police officers stayed with the man's family throughout the ordeal to support and assist them when the man made further contact with them, the AFP said.
The AFP said its South African-based senior liaison officer worked closely with the Canadian Embassy in Mali - Australia has no mission there - and with local authorities to secure the man's release.
The man was rescued on Thursday when the gangsters allowed him to go to the Canadian embassy to pick up the ransom money, Fairfax reported.
The gangsters, who were believed to be waiting nearby, escaped and remain at large.
"This man's experience provides an extreme example of what can happen with internet scams and serves as a warning to Australians to protect themselves from these types of criminals," AFP Assistant Commissioner Tim Morris said in a statement today.
Australians who suspect they may be the victim of an internet scam can contact SCAM Watch on 1300 302 502 or go to www.scamwatch.gov.au.
- AAP
