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Victorian Man Invented Missing Twin To Escape Multi-Million Dollar Debt, NSW Police Say

Victorian Man Invented Missing Twin To Escape Multi-Million Dollar Debt, NSW Police Say

There was a three-day, multi-agency search for the twin which turned up nothing.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Whenever someone gets into strife, chances are they or their friend will suggest they fake their own death and run away to start a new life.

It's almost always said as a joke because how hard could that actually be?

Well, according to police from New South Wales, Australia, it takes a hell of a lot of manpower and results in some pretty serious consequences.

They say last week a Victorian man was walking along a beach near Tathra and started asking people if they'd seen his twin brother. When no one was able to find him, triple-0 was dialled, sparking a multi-agency, three-day search.

Marine Rescue NSW

We're talking teams from surf lifesaving clubs, Merimbula and Bermagui Marine Rescue, Bega Valley SES volunteers, NSW Ambulance, PolAir and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter all involved in searching for this twin brother.

After they called off the search, everyone went back to their normal lives; however investigators wanted to delve a little deeper into the situation and have allegedly found something outrageous.

They believe the 42-year-old Victorian man made up the whole 'missing twin' story in order to escape a multi-million dollar debt and was hoping to start a new life as the brother, according to The Age.

News of the revelation has been met with disappointment and anger from the crews that rushed to help find the mystery man.

Surf Life Saving NSW Far South Coast Cheryl McCarthy told Bega District News: "We had 25 people involved over the three days, all volunteers. [But] there are lots of positives here that we can look to - there's no substitute for training than the real thing. And I'm really proud of the way they worked together.

"There's the fuel costs, particularly with the Westpac helicopter and Toll Air Ambulance - we threw everything at this."

It's estimated the massive search operation cost the agencies collectively more than $1 million - which a big chunk of change for a hoax.

Westpac Life Saver Helicopter chief executive Stephen Leahy told The Age that their services alone cost $30,000.

"We flew for nine and a half hours over two days at a cost of $33,000 - that's a lot of donations to lifesavers," he said.

"No shadow of a doubt that's what emergency services are there for. But if another incident had occurred there was potential the resources would not have been available."

It's certainly one way to start a new life but now the man has been issued a court attendance notice to answer to his alleged crimes.

Featured Image Credit: Fox

Topics: News, Australia