The search for a missing man has been called off in Beaver Bank, N.S. after police determined the story about his disappearance was a hoax.

Police spent most of Monday searching the area in bitter cold temperatures after a man showed up at a home Monday morning asking for help.

He told residents he had crashed an off-road vehicle in the woods and that the person he had been riding with was still in the woods and seriously injured.

The man who reported the crash was taken to hospital while about 100 search crew members set out in search of 36-year-old Gregory Francis Yhard of Wellington.  

Several search teams from organizations across the province assisted RCMP in the search, along with tracking dogs and a Department of Natural Resources helicopter.

However, after further investigation, police determined there had been no crash and no one was actually missing.

“Police have confirmed that the search that was taking place today up in Beaver Bank was based on lies,” says Halifax RCMP Cpl. Scott MacRae.

“It started falling apart on the man in which he just finally confessed…that this was made up.”

A man was brought to the Beaver Bank search site around 2:30 p.m., handcuffed and in a police car.

He was escorted to one of the Halifax Regional Ground Search and Rescue trucks, where he disappeared for a few minutes to face RCMP officers and members of the search team.

“There was a room full of disappointment and people were upset about what had happened,” says Tony Rogers of Halifax Regional Search and Rescue. “The fact that we spent a day out here for no good reason.”

He was then led out of the truck and back into the police car, still in handcuffs.

CTV News asked him if anyone had been missing. He replied “no” and also denied making the call to police.

Police have arrested a 38-year-old Beaver Bank man in connection with the hoax. They say public mischief charges are pending.

He is expected to spend the night in the Nova Scotia Correctional Facility.

As for Yhard, police say he is not currently in the province and is not involved in the incident.