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College Student Fakes Her Own Kidnapping to Avoid Turning in Project Late

Let’s be real—we’ve all used some sort of excuse when we couldn’t turn in an assignment on time. There’s the classic “my dog ate my homework” excuse, “my internet wasn’t working,” “I was sick,” and of course, “I was kidnapped by three men who tied me up for 24 hours.”

Brazilian college student Susan Paola Fadel Correia, 22, told police she was abducted by three men and tied up for 24 hours last week. She said she escaped and borrowed a passerby’s phone to call her mother, and then two of her friends living nearby helped her home.

The reality? She spent the day at a friend’s house because she hadn’t turned in a year-end project. Fadel confessed that she made up the story Wednesday.

“She did not want to upset her mother yet again as the same thing happened last term,” Para police officer Gilvando Furtado said in a Daily Mail article.

Fadel was charged with false reporting of a crime and could end up in prison for one to six months. Her friend whose house she stayed at and her two friends who helped her home have not been charged, but police are still investigating the situation.

Maybe a simple “I thought it was due next week” would work better next time?

Michelle was the Senior Editor of Her Campus. She is passionate about producing high-quality, entertaining and informative content for readers. Before joining the staff full-time, she was an editorial intern, the Life Editor and a contributing writer for HC, during which time she wrote the most-read article in HC history. Before joining the HC team, Michelle interned for The News & Observer in Raleigh, NC. A native of North Carolina, Michelle graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2013 with a B.A. in journalism and French and a minor in music. In her spare time, she likes to run (a lot), buy way too many magazines, obsessively follow UNC basketball and explore new places. You can follow her on Twitter: @mclewis3