Secondary school leaver jailed 2 years for $500 fraud on TikTok

News Agency Of Nigeria

February 14, 2024 7:06 PM

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

An illustrative image of a Nigerian prison [Dataphyte]

An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Wednesday sentenced an 18-year-old Secondary School Certificate (SSCE) holder, Henry Bilabi, to two years’ imprisonment for impersonation and defrauding unsuspecting citizens of $500 on TikTok.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Ismail Ijelu sentenced Bilabi to two years’ imprisonment.

The judgment followed his plea bargain agreement to 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 to commit a 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 of community service for three months under the supervision of the officials of the Lagos Custodial Centre.

The judge added that the convict must write an undertaking never to go back to the crime and his iPhone7 be forfeited to the Federal Government.

Earlier, the EFCC counsel, 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 under 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 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 extra-judicial statement, iPhone 7, and a 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.

News Agency Of Nigeria