Hajia 4Reall enters a guilty plea to accepting money from a romance scam; she might spend up to five years behind bars.
The Southern District of New York’s United States Attorney, Damian Williams, revealed today that MONA FAIZ MONTRAGE had entered a guilty plea for her involvement in the money laundering of several romance frauds. MONTRAGE admitted to conspiring to get money by theft in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave today.
As per the accusations contained in the indictment, as well as statements made in public files and open court sessions:
From at least in or about 2013 until at least in or about 2019, MONTRAGE was a member of a criminal organization (the “Enterprise”) based in West Africa that committed a number of frauds against individuals and businesses in the United States, including romance scams.
Weak prey were many of the elderly, unmarried men and women who fell for romantic scams at the Enterprise.
. The victims of the Enterprise’s romance frauds were often tricked into thinking they were in a love relationship with someone who was actually a fictitious persona taken on by members of the Enterprise through emails, texts, and social media messaging. Members of the Enterprise persuaded victims to transfer money to bank accounts they mistakenly believed were controlled by their romantic interests after successfully convincing them that they were in a romantic relationship and winning their trust. In reality, the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise.
MONTRAGE is a well-known Ghanaian public figure who gained notoriety as an influencer through her Instagram account, which she used under the username “Hajia4Reall.” At one point, she had 3.4 million followers, placing her among the top 10 accounts in Ghana in terms of followers.
Many victims of romance scams who were duped into donating money by members of the Enterprise sent money to MONTRAGE. Payments to bring gold to the United States from overseas, payments to settle a fictitious FBI inquiry, and payments to help a fictitious U.S. Army commander obtain money from Afghanistan were a few of the false pretenses used to coerce victims into sending money to MONTRAGE.
Over $2 million in fraudulent funds were received by bank accounts under the control of MONTRAGE from the Enterprise.
MONTRAGE, 31, of Accra, Ghana, entered a guilty plea to a charge of conspiring to obtain money that was stolen. The maximum punishment for this offense is five years in prison. Additionally, MONTRAGE consented to pay $2,164,758.41 in forfeiture and the same amount in restitution. Paul A. Crotty, the U.S. District Judge, will sentence Montage.
The maximum possible punishment in this case is set by Congress and is given here solely for informative reasons; the judge will decide on the defendant’s sentence.
Mr. Williams complimented the Federal Bureau of Investigation on its excellent work.
The Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mitzi Steiner and Kevin Mead.
