Sam Amico
Being a so-called social media influencer can get you lots of followers, but it doesn’t always pay the bills. So you may feel as if you have to rob some banks on the side.
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But be careful, because you’ll likely end up getting busted.
That was the lesson learned by Brazilian TikToker Karina Laino Gomes, who was taken into custody by police following a string of robberies that took place outside banks. Gomes’ boyfriend was also arrested.
She has more than 63,000 followers on her TikTok account.
The pair wasn’t robbing the banks, per se, but rather customers, who were using the ATM or trying to make deposits, police said.
It appears as if Gomes would start the robbery by getting customers to let their guard down, before someone else came in an robbed them at gun point, police said. Much of the alleged crimes were caught on bank surveillance.
After committing the robbery, Gomes and her crew were driven away in a getaway car to hit up their next destination, police said. Investigators had been monitoring Gomes and others since the end of May.
One bank tipped off police when they noticed a suspicious vehicle near the branch. When police arrived, they found Gomes and her boyfriend, as well as loaded .38-caliber handgun in their possession.
@karinalaiino #CapCut ♬ Marolento
Initially, Gomes and her boyfriend attempted to flee the scene, but were captured quickly, police said. Both have since admitted to their involvement in the robberies, naming four accomplices, who remain at large.
Interestingly, Gomes has regularly showed off about the idea of having money — a well as showed off some other things — and even once posted an photoshopped image of her behind bars.
“If being jealous, possessive, crazy, and neurotic were crimes,” she once joked.
Those things aren’t crimes. Pulling off robberies at banks, however, are considered a major no-no.
