Hajia 4Reall was apprehended on Nov. 10, 2022, in the Britain (UK) regarding the claimed conspiracy and removed to the America on Friday. She is now being indicted with wire deception, capital laundering, acceptance of purloined funds and conspiracy. She could be confronted with up to 20 years in jail if found accountable on the primary accusation.
As declared by Federal prosecutors, Ghanaian cyber celebrity, whose genuine name is Mona Faiz Montrage, was present at the federal court in Manhattan on Monday in relation to her postulated contribution in multiple romantic swindles.
According to the prosecution, Hajia 4 Reall's romance scam targeted elderly and single Americans who were living alone.
In reports seen , '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'.
According to the prosecutors, from at least 2013 through 2019, Hajia 4Reall was involved with a congregation of swindlers from West Africa who concocted counterfeit personalities to fool people into trusting they were in associations with them using emails, writings and web-based media postings.
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.
According to court documents, Montrage allegedly tricked a victim into sending her $89,000 through 82 wire transfers for the purpose of aiding her father's farm in Ghana.
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.
Adam Cortez, the lawyer for Montrage, informed the Post: "Currently, we are aware of six people who have reported wrongdoings; however, only two of them suggest any involvement of a female, and only one of them makes any claims in regard to Montrage."