Federal prosecutors have stated that Mona Faiz Montrage, a Ghanaian social media influencer known as Hajia 4 Reall, made an appearance in a federal court in Manhattan on Monday regarding her suspected involvement in multiple romance scams. She has been extradited from the UK to the US where she is accused of defrauding elderly and single American men and women out of over $2 million in a “lonely hearts” scam.
Hajia 4 Reall was arrested on Nov. 10, 2022, in the UK for her alleged involvement in the scam and was brought to the US on Friday to face charges of wire fraud, money laundering, receipt of stolen money, and conspiracy. If found guilty of the top charge, she could face up to 20 years in prison. The prosecution has revealed that Hajia 4 Reall’s scam primarily targeted older and single Americans who lived alone.
According to reports; “she entered a not-guilty plea to the allegations, and according to her attorney, she will be released in the upcoming days on a $500,000 bail with GPS monitoring via an ankle monitor‘.
The prosecution has stated that between 2013 and 2019, Hajia 4Reall collaborated with a group of fraudsters from West Africa who adopted false identities to deceive individuals into believing they were involved in romantic relationships with them via social media messages, texts, and emails.
The feds add that “the scammers would then get the victims to transfer money to them under false pretences — such as to help move gold to the US from overseas, to resolve bogus FBI investigations and payments to help fake US Army officers in Afghanistan, court papers allege.
Montrage, in one case, allegedly duped a victim into sending her $89,000 through 82 wire transfers on the pretext of helping her father’s farm in Ghana, the court documents claim.
She tricked the person into believing the pair were married by sending them a tribal marriage certificate after a series of phone conversations using her real identity, the filing alleges”.
“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 said in a statement. “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,” the statement continued.
Montrage’s lawyer Adam Cortez told The Post: “At this time all we know is that there are six alleged victims and only two dealt with a woman and only one of them claims that he dealt with Ms. Montrage.”