US Charges Hajia4Real For Romance Scam, Money Laundering And Stealing
The United States Attorney’s Office has charged popular Ghanaian influencer Mona Faiz Montrage popularly known as Hajia4Real, for her role in a series of romance schemes and money laundering.
She is alleged to have participated in multiple romance scams targeting older people through which she received more than US$2 million.
According to a press statement from the US Attorney’s Office, she had been a member of a West African-based criminal conspiracy that specifically targeted individuals and businesses in the United States.
Mona is currently in the United States of America (USA) after being arrested in November last year by the partners of the FBI in the United Kingdom (UK). She was extradited to the US on May 12.
Modus Operandi
The Enterprise- of which she is alleged to be a member- 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, according to the statement.
It added that once members of the Enterprise had successfully convinced victims that they were in a romantic relationship and had gained their trust, they convinced the victims, under pretences, to transfer money to bank accounts the victims believed were controlled by their romantic interests, when, in fact, the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise.
Specifics Of Mona’s Alleged Crime
The statement indicated that Mona received money from several victims of romance frauds whom members of the Enterprise tricked into sending money.
“Among the false pretenses used to induce victims to send money to MONTRAGE were (i) payments to transport gold to the United States from overseas; (ii) payments to resolve a fake FBI unemployment investigation; and (iii) payments to assist a fake United States army officer in receiving funds from Afghanistan.
“As to one victim, MONTRAGE used her real name and spoke to the victim several times by phone. MONTRAGE sent the victim a tribal marriage certificate purporting to show that MONTRAGE and the victim had been married in Ghana.
“The victim sent MONTRAGE approximately 82 wire transfers totaling approximately $89,000 to purportedly help with costs associated with MONTRAGE’s father’s farm in Ghana. In total, MONTRAGE controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds from the Enterprise.”
Charges
She is now facing charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit money laundering and stealing.
“MONTRAGE, 30, of Accra, Ghana is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of wire fraud, one count of money laundering conspiracy, and one count of money laundering, each of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
“MONTRAGE is also charged with one count of receipt of stolen money, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to receive stolen money, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.”
The case is being heard by the U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty.
Already, she has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
