Howard Lam, a politician from the Democratic Party, claimed mainland China security agents forced bundled him into a car last week before dumping him unconscious on a beach.
Following his arrest on Tuesday, the 42 year old was charged late on Wednesday with misleading police, after it was alleged CCTV surveillance contradicted his version of events.
The footage appears to show a man bearing a passing resemblance to Lam walking around freely at around the time he said he had been kidnapped.
In comments broadcast by RTHK, Hong Kong's public broadcast, acting commissioner of police Lau Yip-shing said: "The statements made by the person and the information we got from our investigation do not match."
Speaking at a press conference last week, Mr Lam said he was interrogated over a signed picture of the footballer Lionel Messi he had intended to give the widow of a prominent activist.
He claimed his unidentified Mandarin-speaking captors told him they knew he was a believer and so they wished to give him a cross.
His account of events initially fuelled concerns that Beijing is increasing its influence over Chinese-ruled Hong Kong, a special administrative region.