Mona Faiz Montrage, better known as Hajia4Reall, a Ghanaian socialite, has been extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States for allegedly swindling over $2 million from elderly, unmarried American men and women in a twisted lonely hearts scam.
Remember that the social media influencer, whose Instagram account is among the top ten most followed in Ghana, was detained in the UK on November 10, 2022, for the alleged conspiracy and extradited to the United States on Friday, May 12.
Prosecutors in the United States claimed the popular socialite and singer appeared in federal court in Manhattan on Monday, May 15, for her alleged involvement in a series of romance schemes aimed at elderly persons who lived alone.
“As alleged, Mona Faiz Montrage was a member of a criminal conspiracy that specifically targeted older Americans through romance scams,” Manhattan United States Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “These scams can be both financially and emotionally devastating for vulnerable victims.”
Her lawyer told The Washington Post that she pled not guilty to the charges and will be released on $500,000 bond with GPS tracking via an ankle monitor in the following days.
Prosecutors said Montrage, who rose to prominence through her immensely famous Instagram page Hajia4Real, which had a peak following of nearly 3.4 million followers, was part of a network of fraudsters from Ghana and Nigeria.
Through emails, text messages, and social media conversations, these perpetrators used deceitful tactics, assuming fictitious identities and creating the illusion of romantic relationships with their victims.
According to court documents, the scammers would then convince victims to transfer money to them under false pretenses, such as assisting in the transfer of gold from overseas, resolving fraudulent FBI investigations, and payments to help fake US Army troops in Afghanistan.
Montrage allegedly deceived a victim into transferring her $89,000 over 82 wire transfers under the guise of supporting her father’s farm in Ghana, according to court filings.
According to the lawsuit, she duped the person into thinking the couple was married by sending them a tribal marriage certificate after a series of phone calls using her true identity.
Prosecutors claim Montrage also got money from several others who were duped by scammers in her network.
Montrage is accused with wire fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen property, and conspiracy. If convicted of the most serious charge, she faces up to 20 years in prison.
Montrage’s attorney, Adam Cortez, stated:
“At this time, all we know is that there are six alleged victims, and only two of them dealt with a woman, and only one of them claims to have dealt with Ms. Montrage.”
Cortez told The Washington Post that he won’t be able to comment further until he receives additional information and evidence from prosecutors.
