Johannesburg - Last week, South Africans woke up to the heartbreaking news of the death of a well-known local TikTok influencer.
The influencer, who went by the alias Iron Bianca, was said to have been driven to suicide by the continuous bullying she had received on the social media platform, as well as having lost her child two months ago.
She was even seen taking a large number of sleeping pills on her TikTok Live video feed, before news started filtering through of her dying.
Her death was allegedly confirmed by a TikTok user with the username @spillthetea_007.
The news shocked the TikTok community in South Africa, and hours later, hundreds of mourners posted messages on the social media platform.
Despite her death, the influencer’s TikTok account continued to grow, with hundreds of new followers. Bank details were sent out to the TikTok community, allegedly to help her family.
Several TikTok influencers from around the globe have ended their lives recently after becoming victims of cyberbullying
As the news of Bianca’s alleged suicide spread, local private investigator Mike Bolhuis said he wanted to probe the claims.
What they found out days later took the TikTok community of South Africa by surprise.
Bolhuis and his team discovered that the person running the account of “Iron Bianca“ was alive.
He said what they uncovered was an elaborate premeditated suicide scam to get attention and to get tweeps to hand over their money.
“We have two people with the same name – Bianca. Bianca Golden was a person who sadly died in a car accident on the same day the Bianca on TikTok allegedly committed suicide; it has nothing to do with the scam … her identity wasn't stolen,” said Bolhuis.
“The person running the scam also happens to be named Bianca, that’s the alias she used to scam people on her TikTok Live, where she took sleeping tablets and even went so far as to make people believe that she had committed suicide. People had even called to pass their condolences and the scammer had gone so far as to set up fake family members to answer calls. They did this for the attention, the popularity, and for money.”
Bolhuis and his team say they have a good idea of who is behind the scam and who runs the account of “Iron Bianca”
“Information has been coming through from the TikTok community in SA,” said Bolhuis. “The surnames used in the scam that we have so far are Spies and Terreblanche. As we are going further with the investigation we will connect the dots and see who is involved.”
“This was a very well-thought-out event. We are talking about big money. In the coming weeks, we will be looking at how this case has played out, who is involved and who is the main person that sits behind this evil plan. At this point, the case is very sensitive. We are monitoring it very carefully.”
Bolhuis couldn’t reveal who was behind the profile of “Iron Bianca”.
“All I can say is that it is a Mrs Spies and she is still alive.”
Bolhuis said the scam had managed to rope in thousands of people.
“In this case, within minutes there were 10 000 people who were involved. The aim was to extort money and they managed to scam a large audience.”
Bolhuis said suicide scams were not common in South Africa.
“Online scams are popular, but not necessarily suicide scams. Scams are the biggest cybercrime in the world.”
“These kinds of scams do happen but not very frequently. Most times, they are not exposed, so the public aren't very aware of them.”
Bolhuis said it was important that the case of Iron Bianca was exposed to the public.
“We want to make an example of this to warn the public that these kinds of things do exist.”
He said scams like these often rope in thousands of people.
“These kinds of scams continue to escalate around the world because they work so well – you are pulling at the heartstrings and emotions of people. There is no such a thing as privacy when you are scamming someone. We will track and trace you and expose you.”
Bolhuis said those responsible could find themselves in jail.
“There is a law already that has been agreed by the government that individuals found guilty of crimes such as these could get a financial fine or a prison sentence of around two years.”