How This Model Outwitted Her Dark Web Captors to Escape a Nightmare No One Saw Coming

Ever wonder what it takes to turn a nightmare into a bizarre tale of survival — sprinkled with a dash of “Wait, she convinced her kidnapper to let her go?” Well, buckle up. Chloe Ayling, a former Page 3 model, found herself drugged, stuffed in a suitcase, and whisked away to a remote farmhouse in Italy after a sham photoshoot. Kidnapped and told she’d be sold on the dark web as a ‘sex slave,’ Chloe spent six harrowing days handcuffed and trapped — convinced her fate was sealed. But here’s the kicker: instead of succumbing to despair, she turned the tables by convincing her captor they could be in a relationship if she was freed. Seriously, who thinks up this kind of escape plan? This isn’t just survival; it’s high-stakes psychological chess played under unimaginable pressure. Amid accusations and doubts swirling around her story, Chloe’s ordeal raises questions about how we perceive trauma and strength — and how sometimes, the wildest truths are stranger than fiction. Ready to dive into this jaw-dropping saga? LEARN MORE.

A model who was kidnapped and told she would be sold on the dark web as a ‘sex slave’ has revealed how she convinced her captor to free her.

Chloe Ayling said she had ‘accepted that she was going to die’ after spending six days being held against her will – until she realised she had an opportunity to secure her freedom.

The former Page 3 star was just 20 years old when she was drugged, bundled into a suitcase and abducted after travelling to Milan for what turned out to be a fake photoshoot in July 2017.

She was lured to the Italian city under the pretence of taking part in a ‘motorbike shoot’, which her agent Phil Green had organised.

However, the job was in fact a set-up – and as Chloe arrived at the studio, two masked men grabbed her from behind and injected her with ketamine.

The London-born model was then shoved into a suitcase and driven 120 miles in a car boot to a remote farmhouse near Turin, before her kidnappers revealed why they had targeted her.

The 28-year-old revealed how she managed to convince her kidnapper to free her (Instagram/@chloeayling97)

Lukasz Herba, who had posed as a photographer to convince Chloe that the shoot was legit, and his brother Michal Herba claimed that they had been recruited by an ‘international crime gang’ to snatch her.

The brothers alleged that this sinister syndicate, which they said was named ‘Black Death’, wanted her to be auctioned off in a sex slave auction on the dark web.

They explained the only way Chloe could get out of it was if her agent paid a €300,000 (£260,000) ransom – a price which Green could not afford.

He ended up contacting authorities in Italy as well as the British consulate in Milan after receiving the demand, while the Met Police also launched a probe from the UK after Chloe’s mum reported her abduction to the force.

The model, meanwhile, was trapped in the farmhouse without any hope of escape, handcuffed to a set of drawers.

Describing how the ‘days dragged’ during her captivity, Chloe, now 28, told Metro: “I accepted that I was going to die, because there was nothing I could do.”

That was until she realised that Lukasz appeared to have taken a liking to her, and the OnlyFans creator decided to try and use this to her advantage.

Chloe explained that she convinced her captor they could be in a relationship if she were freed, which she says prompted Lukasz to soften towards her.

He even offered for her to sleep beside him in his bed, rather than the floor she had been forced to lie on for the six days she was held captive.

Lukasz then presented her with pizza and fruit and took her shopping to replace her missing shoes, before driving Chloe to the British consulate in Milan six days after her abduction.

Ayling was abducted in 2017 (BBC)

In order for Chloe to gain her freedom, the kidnapper told the model that she had to put a stop to any investigation into her disappearance and stump up the hefty amount of cash for the ransom herself.

But she still feared what repercussions she could face from the ‘Black Death’ gang, as Lukasz had convinced her the organised crime group were after her and her family.

“Even though I was out, I didn’t feel safe,” Chloe continued.

It later emerged that it wasn’t the Black Death group who were behind the plot – as it was actually just the Herba brothers who had orchestrated the terrifying kidnap. The pair, who worked in computer programming and transport logistics, were later both arrested and put on trial.

Lukasz was convicted of kidnapping and attempted extortion and sentenced to 16 years and nine months, although this was later reduced to 12 years and one month.

Michal was also found guilty and sentenced to 16 years and eight months, which was subsequently reduced to five years and eight months on appeal.

But although Chloe thought her ordeal was over, it was only just beginning – as when she returned to the UK a month after her abduction, a host of people believed she had made the whole thing up.

Chloe was told an international crime gang had ordered for her to be abducted (Instagram/@chloeayling97)

She was dogged by claims that the kidnapping was a publicity stunt to boost her profile as a model, a theory fuelled by CCTV footage which captured her holding Lukasz hand while they shopped for shoes.

But the Brit insists she was merely playing along for the sake of her safety, while explaining she was diagnosed with autism in March this year – a neurodevelopmental condition which causes difficulties with communication and masking body language.

“It was a perfect combination of all the things that made it unbelievable,” Chloe said. “My job as a glamour model is associated with publicity. How I look and dress, which was normal to me, didn’t go down well.

“Neither did my calm reactions. It’s expected that when something bad happens, a person must be sad and crying. Cases are more complex than that. Mine certainly was.”

She hopes that the newly released BBC documentary, Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping, will ‘change public perception’ about the case, adding: “That’s what I cared about from day one.”

Chloe Ayling: My Unbelievable Kidnapping is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.