Pawan Verma, a 22-year-old Indian man in desperate need of money to pay for a trip to Macau, had the brilliant idea of kidnapping himself and asking his family for ransom. His father is wealthy, so he figured $40,000 would do the trick.

But the police laid a trap and arrested him as he attempted to collect the ransom.

Verma’s father has not decided yet if he will press charges against his son.