A San Jose University student lied about a harrowing ordeal in which she was kidnapped at knifepoint and forced to drive hundreds of miles away, police say.

The 22-year-old woman was spotted by a driver on Friday night 'frightened' and running down a road in Oregon.

She had told Oregon police she was set to graduate from San Jose University on Saturday morning but had been kidnapped from her California apartment 500 miles away by a suspect armed with a knife.

The 22-year-old woman was spotted by a driver on Friday night 'frightened' and running down this road in Oregon. She told police she had been kidnapped from her apartment in California

After San Jose Police launched an investigation into her abduction, the woman told officers on Tuesday that she had made the whole thing up.

When she was found by authorities in Oregon at the weekend, the woman told them she had been beaten and kidnapped in San Jose hours earlier.

She said her imaginary abductor forced her into her car and made her drive across the border into Oregon.

The woman told police she had escaped when her car ran out of gas and claimed she hid in tall grass nearby for several hours until it grew dark.

She had told Oregon police she was set to graduate from San Jose University (above) on Saturday but was kidnapped from her apartment 500 miles away by a man armed with a knife

She was found by the concerned passerby at Highway 101 and Prosper Junction Road in Bandon, which is about 500 miles from where she claimed she was abducted.

The student had told police the stranger was in his 30s with no facial hair and he was wearing a black hoodie, black baseball hat and black winter gloves.

Police found her abandoned car nearby.

Her family had alerted authorities after they arrived at her San Jose graduation on Saturday and she failed to meet them.

Police are not yet clear on why the woman lied but said no suspects were wanted in connection with the investigation.

