Romance scam: TikToker jailed three years for impersonation
Justice Alexander Owoeye of the Federal High Court in Lagos, on Monday, convicted and sentenced a TikToker, Olamide Bello, to three years imprisonment for impersonating an American citizen.
The judge sentenced him after finding him guilty of the offence of impersonation, but gave him an option of N600,000 fine, in lieu of the sentence.
The court further ordered the forfeiture of the convict’s iPhones 14, pro Max and a GLK 2013 model, to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Justice Owoeye said the sentence would retroactively begin from December 6, 2024, when the convict was arrested.
Bello who is a father of a nine-month-old baby, posed as an American woman named Keanu Reeves, looking for a man for a relationship and defrauded his victims.
Earlier, following Bello’s conviction, his lawyer, E.O Ajoku, pleaded with the court to give the convict a non-custodial sentence or an option of a fine.
Ajoku told the court that Bello was a first-time offender and had been in custody since December 6, 2024.
The defence counsel added that Bello is the father of a nine-month-old baby and that his father is late, so he alone is saddled with the responsibility of taking care of his mother, his wife and family members.
He further told the court that Bello was remorseful.
“I have spoken to him and he has promised not to do such again. I pray the court to give him a non-custodial sentence or an option of fine,” he said.
The EFCC’s prosecution counsel, Chineye Okezie, told the court that the commission was not aware of any prior conviction of the defendant.
The convict was arraigned on a count of impersonation brought against him by the anti-graft agency.
The agency’s prosecution counsel had, on January 30, 2025, when the convict was arraigned, told the court that he committed the offence sometime in December 2024.
According to the commission, the offence committed contravened Sections 22 (2), (b), of the Cybercrimes Prohibition Prevention Act 2015.
Bello pleaded guilty to the charge against him and the court adjourned his sentence till February 3, 2025.
