Meet Chad Hower, the “TikTok Fugitive” claiming to have been wanted by the FBI and INTERPOL for roughly 13 years, a status he alleged stemmed from a custody agreement gone awry between him and his former wife.

Though Hower is not included on the FBI’s list of fugitives, and with little to no formal messaging from the FBI or INTERPOL surrounding his wanted status, Hower claimed that his run-ins with authorities began in 2009 after he was arrested in Bulgaria on charges of international kidnapping, ones he has continually denied.

“For three months I was in and out of five different Bulgarian prisons, Bulgarian federal courts, denied my extradition to the United States because the charges were baseless,” he explained in a clip pinned to his TikTok page titled, “How I Became a Fugitive.” Afterward, he said, he returned to the Bahamas where the government allegedly attempted to extradite him for a second time to no success.

@kudzutheraccoon How I became an International fugitive wanted by the FBI & Interpol for 16 years. #KudzuRaccoon #FBI #TrueCrime #AlexIsNotMissing #NCMEC #Prison #Interpol #Bulgaria ♬ Emotional Cinematic Sad Violin and Piano - ISAo

His son was only recently un-classified as a missing person, a status that kept him stuck in the Caribbean with his father. 

“He was listed as missing [in] July of this year. They only removed him after I made a viral TikTok and tagged them,” he said, showing a screengrab appearing to depict the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children blocking him on TikTok.

Beyond one press release confirming his 2009 arrest and attempted extradition, the FBI and INTERPOL have remained largely tight-lipped on Hower and his case. Yet the social media star is seemingly convinced the government is still after him.

@kudzutheraccoon

Wanted by FBI on tropical beach

♬ Here I Am (Come And Take Me) Remastered 2009

“So there are four judges so far that have been involved in this kidnapping thing, and they’ve all upheld it,” he explained. “And so it can’t be a simple mistake. They’re doing this intentionally.”

So why are they allegedly coming after him? The answer, he said, stems from a broader recruiting operation designed to bring him on to government agencies.

@kudzutheraccoon Replying to @satans_fehlgeburt ♬ original sound - The TikTok Fugitive

“One of the working theories is that some CIA agent had a wet dream that they could recruit me and possibly turn me on my wife’s parents to get Russian military secrets,” Hower said, noting that he had been approached by “three intelligence agencies” following his 2002 marriage. “They wanted to get me into custody and try to force me to work for them.”

So while the 'TikTok Fugitive' isn't really on the run from the FBI and INTERPOL, his story does make for some great TikTok content. But hey, who needs to work for the CIA when you have all the digital clout of a viral fugitive?