TikTok Impersonator captured in Lagos

A boy identified as Henry Bilabi has been arrested by the  Ikeja Special Offences Court. 

The 18-year-old was sentenced to two  years’ imprisonment for impersonation and defrauding unsuspecting citizens of $500 on TikTok on Wednesday.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Justice Ismail Ijelu sentenced Bilabi to two years’ imprisonment following his plea bargain in the charge of impersonation preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

“The court is satisfied that the defendant understands the plea bargain agreement, and accordingly, the defendant is hereby found guilty. You just finished secondary school, and the only thing you know how to do is commit a crime,” said the judge.

Earlier, the EFCC counsel, Mr Ahmed Yerima, in his review of facts, had told the court that the commission received an intelligence report sometime in October 2023 that some young persons were defrauding innocent citizens around Ajah.

Yerima said that the convict was arrested, and when his phone was analysed using forensic tools, some fraudulent documents were printed out from his TikTok account.

“He confessed to having created a fake TikTok account where he represented himself as Grace David with the username grace_david2, where he benefited $50.“He raised a manager cheque of N50,000 in favour of the EFCC during the investigation,” he said.

The convict’s statement, iPhone 7, and a cheque for N50,000 were admitted as evidence following no objections from the defence counsel, Ms Mary Uzodimma.

The convict, in his plea for mercy, had prayed to the court to temper justice with mercy.