BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhuanet)-- An Australian farmer, Des Gregor, was held hostage in Mali for 12 days by a gang of men posing as an online love interest, media reports said Monday.

    The 56-year-old Australian wheat and sheep farmer traveled to the landlocked African nation last month to meet his supposed bride, Natacha, whom he had met on the Internet, and collected a dowry of gold bars worth 85,000 U.S. dollars.

    He was kidnapped on arrival by a gang of armed bandits who bound him, beat him and took his cash and credit cards away.

    Gregor returned to South Australia, his home state, with a police escort late Sunday. He said the men told him they would hack his limbs off with a machete unless he paid them a ransom of 85,000 U.S. dollars.

    The scam was not stopped until Australian and Malian police, alerted by Gregor's family in Australia, tricked the kidnappers into taking Gregor to the Canadian Embassy to get the ransom money.

    "It's hard to explain what I thought," Gregor said, "I basically was wondering what the hell was going on and then they started demanding money, then I knew things were serious."

    He urged others to be careful when seeking romance on the Net.

    "I reckon another couple of days and I wouldn't have returned," he said, "Just be careful, make sure you check everything out 100 percent."

    Australian Federal Police mentioned Gregor's case as an "extreme example" of what can happen to people who succumb to Internet scams, and warned people to protect themselves.

    (Agencies)