Phone scam. Photo: VCG

A woman in Jinhua, East China's Zhejiang Province, successfully blew the lid off a hoax after she figured out that her daughter's "kidnapper", who quickly agreed to cut the ransom from 500,000 yuan ($70,000) to 33,000 yuan ($6,000), was a swindler, reported The Beijing News on Wednesday. 

The woman received a phone call last week demanding 500,000 yuan to ensure the safety of her "daughter", who cried for her help over the phone. 

While bargaining with the kidnappers on the amount of the ransom, the unflappable mother soon started suspecting the authenticity of the kidnapping, as it seemed "too easy" for them to accept the low amount of 33,000 yuan that she offered.

She immediately reported the case to the police, who later confirmed it was indeed a phone scam. 

The case is still under investigation.