NewsAustralia teen bomb hoax was extortion plot : (CNN) -- A masked man who broke into an Australian home, forcibly strapped a fake bomb onto a teen's neck and fled was attempting a "serious" extortion, Australian police said Thursday.

Madeleine Pulver, 18, told police that a man wearing a disguise entered her home Wednesday afternoon in the wealthy suburb of Mosman and attached the suspicious device to her.

Officials later determined the suspected bomb did not contain explosives, describing it as a "very, very elaborate hoax."