US woman claimed she had been abducted in India in order to get money from parents

Police said the woman invented the whole story. Photo / 123RF

An American woman who ran out of funds while travelling in India spun a yarn about being abducted in order to emotionally blackmail her parents into giving her money, according to Indian police.

Chloe Mclaughlin, 27, was arrested by the New Delhi District police after they found her living with a boyfriend she met online.

McLaughlin reportedly contacted her family after arriving in Delhi in May to say she was being assaulted.

On July 9 she wrote an email to the American citizen service and reported being in an "unsafe environment" where she faced physical and emotional abuse.

The next day McLaughlin spoke with her mother on a WhatsApp video call.

As her mother attempted to get more information from her daughter a man walked into the room - then the call dropped out.

Her panicked mother then called the US Embassy, which contacted local police and told them they feared McLaughlin was being held against her will.

Police then tracked down the IP address used to make the video call and found McLaughlin with 31-year-old Nigerian national Okoroafor Chibuike Okoro.

When police went to arrest Okoro, McLaughlin reportedly confessed to staging the whole thing to get money from her parents after her own funds ran dry.

"After her rescue, it was revealed that she had staged the incident to blackmail her parents," police claimed.

She had met Okoro online in early May after connecting over a mutual love of music.

Police then found that McLaughlin's visa ran out on June 6 and Okoro's passport had also expired and said both now face legal action.