Ghana
Influencer
Montrage For
Romance Scams
Is Extradited
to US and
Presented in
SDNY
by
Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book
Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE,
May 15 – A Ghana-based
influencer was hit with a six-count
Indictment
charging MONA
FAIZ MONTRAGE
for her role
in a series of
romance
schemes and
for laundering
the proceeds
of those
schemes.
MONTRAGE was
arrested in
the United
Kingdom on
November 10,
2022, and was
extradited
from the
United Kingdom
on May 12,
2023.
MONTRAGE
was to be
presented
before U.S.
District Judge
Paul A. Crotty
-- Inner City
Press aimed to
be there.
As
alleged in the
Indictment and
other publicly
filed
materials:[1]
From at least
in or about
2013 through
in or about
2019, MONTRAGE
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 United
States,
including
romance
scams.
Many of the
Enterprise’s
romance scam
victims were
vulnerable,
older men and
women who
lived
alone.
The Enterprise
frequently
conducted the
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, in
fact, a fake
identity
assumed by
members of the
Enterprise.
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 false
pretenses, 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.
MONTRAGE is a
Ghanaian
public figure
who rose to
fame as an
influencer
through her
Instagram
profile, under
the username
“Hajia4Reall,”
which at one
point had
approximately
3.4 million
Instagram
followers and
was among the
top 10
profiles with
the most
followers in
Ghana.
MONTRAGE
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.
The case is US
v. Montrage,
22-cr-617
(Crotty)
***
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