School cert holder jailed for TikTok fraud

 

LAGOS, Nigeria – A Special Offences Court sitting in Ikeja  today sentenced an 18-year-old Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) holder, Henry Bilabi to two years imprisonment for impersonating on TikTok to defraud unsuspecting citizens, to the tune of USD500. 

Justice Ismail Ijelu sentenced Bilabi,  after entering a guilty plea, following a plea bargain agreement with 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 to commit crime,” he said.

Ijelu however, gave the convict an option of one million naira fine which must be paid within 30 days.

He also ordered that the convict carry out six hours community service for three months, under the supervision of the officials of the Lagos Custodial Centre.

The judge also said that the convict must write an undertaken never to go back to the crime and his iPhone7 be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Earlier, EFCC Counsel, Mr Ahmed Yerima, in his review of facts, had told the court that the commission received an intelligence report sometimes 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 under forensic tools, some fraudulent documents were printed out from his tiktok account.

“He confessed to ha e created a fake tiktok account where he represented himself as Grace David with username grace_david2 where he benefited 50 US dollars.

“He raised manager cheque of N50,000 in favour of EFCC during the investigation,” he said.

The convict’s extra judicial statement, iPhone7, cheque of N50,000 were admitted into evidence,following no objections from the defence counsel, Ms Mary Uzodimma.

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

According to the prosecution, the offence contravenes Section 380 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.