A TikTok creator who goes by @tokiioreo has shared a story about her childhood on the now-obscure social app Amino, describing how she created a fake online identity at 11 years old that eventually spiraled into faking the character’s death. The video, which has drawn over 1.9 million views, appears to have resonated widely, with many viewers saying they recognized the story or were part of the same community.
According to the creator, she joined an Amino community intended for users aged 13 to 16 and built a fake profile under the name Emily, a 15-year-old supposedly from Atlanta, Georgia. She said she became well-known in the community, made many friends, and was eventually promoted to moderator, a role that involved helping other users deal with catfishing, even as she was engaging in it herself.
The creator said the fake persona grew into a full social life on the app, including a romantic relationship with a user from Boston, Massachusetts. She claimed that every time he asked for photos, she sent her profile picture, apparently not her own, with color filters applied. She also said she became close with another girl in the community, who shared personal secrets with her and told her on multiple occasions that she was her only friend.
How the fake persona of Emily unraveled and what the creator did next
Per the creator, the situation came to a head one morning when a fellow moderator sent her a message saying the profile picture was not her. She said she had what she described as her first-ever panic attack at 11 years old after receiving that message. Rather than coming clean, she said she made a post pretending to be Emily’s older sister, claiming Emily had died by suicide due to bullying at school.
She said she then stripped the account, removing her profile picture, her posts, and her name, leaving behind only that single post. According to the creator, messages began pouring in from people asking if Emily was alive and okay, none of which she opened. She said her supposed boyfriend from Boston messaged the account every day for about a month afterward, writing about how Emily had been the only person who made him feel happy on the app. Not all catfishing situations end without serious consequences, as separate cases have shown.
The girl who had confided her deepest secrets to the fake Emily, according to the creator, was also sending messages to the account, grieving someone she believed was dead, unaware she was messaging the same person. The creator described reading those messages while sitting in her bed, crying. In another case where a catfishing attempt backfired, a woman who suspected she was being deceived online ended up in an unexpected situation of her own.
A further development, as described in the video, came when the community’s creator made a memorial post for Emily and pinned it to the community page for what the creator said may have been months or possibly an entire year. Users allegedly left comments with flower emojis, condolences, and their memories of Emily.
The creator described the moment using a specific image, saying that while all of this was unfolding online, the real person behind Emily was “an 11-year-old Swedish girl sitting on her Minecraft bedsheets, crying and trembling like a leaf.”
The video drew significant attention in its comment section. One commenter, appearing to identify themselves as the boyfriend from Boston, wrote, “hello it’s me emily’s bf from boston mass i’m glad ur ok.” Another commenter wrote, “You’re somebody’s Roman empire,” suggesting the story had stayed with people long after it happened.
Several others referenced Amino directly, with one writing, “amino… haven’t heard that name in a while,” suggesting the platform itself carries a layer of nostalgia for many viewers. One commenter described their own history on the app, saying, “I was a mod in the biggest BTS roleplay community, I was also like 13 years old.”
Published: Jun 22, 2026 08:50 am