by Elena Chong

A CHINA national was jailed for nine months on Thursday for conspiring with others in a bid to cheat a man of $100,000 in a kidnap scam.

Ren Ting Ming, 30, admitted to trying to deceive retiree Goh Boo Sing, 55, of the amount for the safe return of his son on April 10.

His accomplices are unknown.

A district court heard that Mr Goh received a call that day and heard someone crying in the background.

The caller claimed to be Mr Goh's son who said he had been kidnapped.

Mr Goh then signalled to his wife to contact his two sons to check if they had indeed been abducted.

The call was passed to an unknown man who demanded $500,000 in exchange for the safe return of his son.

After haggling, the sum was reduced to $100,000.

By then, Mr Goh knew the phone call was a scam.

He drove to a neighbourhood police centre and reported the incident.

He had earlier told the caller he was going to a bank to withdraw money.

At the police centre, he told the unknown man still holding on to the line that he had withdrawn money.

He played along and proceeded to Woodlands to place a plastic bag containing some old newspapers in a flower pot.

An ambush party saw Ren loitering suspiciously near the area and talking on the cellphone. They moved in and arrested him.