Ghanaian musician and influencer Mona Faiz Montrage known as Hajia 4 Reall has pleaded guilty to romance scam.
An official report from Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 said that MONA FAIZ MONTRAGE has pleaded guilty to her involvement in laundering the proceeds of a series of romance scams.
"MONTRAGE pled guilty today to conspiracy to receive stolen money before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah L. Cave," the report said.
Damian Williams said “Mona Faiz Montrage knowingly received money stolen from older Americans through romance scams and was arrested abroad and now faces serious consequences for her actions.
Romance scams such as Montrage’s harmed her vulnerable, elderly victims not only in the cruel betrayal of trust in the realization that their online romantic connection was fiction, but by also callously stealing their money.
"This Office and our law enforcement partners are relentless in bringing fraudsters who target Americans to justice, no matter where they are,” the U.S attorney concluded.
Hajia 4 Reall is said to have pled guilty to one count of conspiring to receive stolen money, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
The Ghanaian influencer also agreed to pay forfeiture for $2,164,758.41 and make restitution in the same amount. Hajia 4 Reall is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty.
According to U.S prosecutors, from at least in or about 2013 through in or about 2019, Hajia 4 Reall was a member of a criminal enterprise (the “Enterprise”) based in West Africa that committed a series of frauds against individuals and businesses in the U.S., including romance scams.
Many of the Enterprise’s romance scam victims were vulnerable, older men and women who lived alone. The Enterprise frequently conducted romance scams by sending the victims emails, text messages, and social media messages that deceived the victims into believing that they were in romantic relationships with a person who had a fake identity assumed by members of the Enterprise.
Hajia 4 Reall is said to have received money from several victims of romance frauds whom members of the Enterprise tricked into sending money. Among the false pretences used to induce victims to send money to Hajia 4Reall were payments to transport gold to the U.S. from overseas.
In total, the mother of one controlled bank account that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds from the Enterprise.