ACCRA, GHANA: Mona Faiz Montrage, aka Hajia4Reall, a Ghanaian social media personality, has been extradited from the UK to the US for allegedly defrauding older, single American individuals out of over $2 million in a depraved lonely hearts scam, according to federal authorities.
The 30-year-old Accra, Ghana native was charged in Manhattan federal court on Monday, May 15 for her alleged role in several romance scams that preyed on older people who were living alone, according to the prosecution. Damian Williams, the US attorney for Manhattan, described the catastrophic effects of these romantic scams, especially on senior Americans. He declared, "These scams can be both financially and emotionally devastating for vulnerable victims."
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Who is Mona Faiz Montrage?
Montrage, who was known to have about 3.4 million followers on Instagram, had a connection with a team of fraudsters from West Africa who used emails, texts, and social media communications to dupe individuals into believing they were in relationships with them from at least 2013 to 2019, the feds stated. According to court documents, the scammers would then persuade victims to wire money to them under false pretenses, such as helping to smuggle gold to the US from overseas, resolving fraudulent FBI investigations, and payments to support fake US Army officers in Afghanistan, as per New York Post.
What is her crime?
According to court filings, Montrage allegedly conned a victim into transferring her $89,000 over 82 wire transfers under the guise of assisting her father's farm in Ghana. After several phone calls using her true identity, she allegedly deceived the person into thinking the two of them had tied the knot by handing them a tribal marriage certificate.
Prosecutors claim that Montrage also accepted money from several other people who had been defrauded by con artists connected to her ring. In total, Montrage received $2 million from the victims' money that the group embezzled into bank accounts she held in the Bronx and elsewhere, including one she opened under the fictitious name of a clothing firm, 4Reall Designs. The indictment claims that she afterward allegedly laundered the stolen funds to other business associates.
When was she arrested?
"As alleged, Mona Faiz Montrage was a member of a criminal conspiracy that specifically targeted older Americans through romance scams," Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams stated. "These scams can be both financially and emotionally devastating for vulnerable victims." "Thanks to the efforts of our law enforcement partners, Montrage was arrested abroad and has been brought to the United States to face justice," he added. The Instagram user, who had one of the top 10 most popular accounts in Ghana, was arrested on November 10, 2022, in the UK for the alleged plot and extradited to the US on Friday, as reported by NY Post.
What are the charges against her?
Montrage faces charges of wire fraud, money laundering, receipt of stolen money, and conspiracy. If found guilty of the most serious accusation, she may spend up to 20 years in jail. She entered a not-guilty plea during her court appearance and was scheduled to be released on a $500,000 bond with GPS tracking via an ankle monitor in the upcoming days for home confinement to her aunt's New Jersey home, according to her attorney and the prosecutor's office. According to her lawyer Adam Cortez, his client is only permitted to travel in specific areas of New York and New Jersey while her case is underway.
