A JAPANESE businessman on Saturday escaped from kidnappers who had demanded $50000 for his release, police in Durban said. Police said in a statement that Kensuke Matsumoto (67) ran into a Japanese restaurant in a beachfront hotel about 1.30pm on Saturday. “Mr Matsumoto … does not appear to have been seriously injured,” police said. Police said Matsumoto had phoned his family in Japan on Friday saying he had been kidnapped. The statement said Matsumoto was in South Africa to discuss a business deal with Nigerian nationals in Durban. Police said Matsumoto could have been a victim of a fraud known as the “Black Dollar” scam, in which dozens of investors have been defrauded of money allegedly borrowed to buy chemicals that will clean blacked out dollar notes said to have been smuggled out of Rwanda.