Mona Faiz Montrage, also known as Hajia4Real, is a 30-year-old social media influencer from Ghana. She has been arrested in the UK for her alleged involvement in a series of fraud schemes.
Montage is accused of being part of a group of scammers from West Africa who used fake identities to trick people into thinking they were in relationships with them. They used emails, texts, and social media messages to gain the trust of their victims.
Between 2013 and 2019, Montrage allegedly swindled over $2 million from older, single American men and women in a lonely hearts scam. She convinced them to send her money under false pretenses, such as helping her father’s farm in Ghana or moving gold to the US from overseas.
Hajia4Real was apprehended at Heathrow Airport in London on November 10, 2022. After spending six months in custody, she was extradited to the US on May 12, 2023, where she appeared in Manhattan federal court.
Hajia4Real 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 these charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
She 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.
- Montrage and her group of scammers used fake identities to trick people into thinking they were in relationships with them.
- They convinced their victims to transfer money to them under false pretenses, such as helping move gold to the US from overseas or resolving fake FBI investigations.
- In one case, Montrage duped a victim into sending her $89,000 through 82 wire transfers under the pretense of supporting her father’s farm in Ghana.
- Montrage tricked her victims into believing they were married in Ghana by sending them a tribal marriage certificate after using her real identity to speak to the victim several times by phone.
- Montrage also received funds from several other victims who were swindled by her network of scammers.
- In total, Montrage received over $2 million in fraudulent funds in bank accounts she had in the Bronx and elsewhere, including one opened in the name of 4Reall Designs, a supposed clothing company.
- She then allegedly laundered the stolen money to other members of the syndicate.
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