Hajia 4Real Extradited to US For $2M Romance Scam Targeting Older, Single Americans

Federal prosecutors announced on Monday that Ghanaian social media influencer Mona Faiz Montrage, more commonly referred to as Hajia4Reall, has been extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States for allegedly swindling more than $2 million from older, single American men and women in a twisted lonely hearts scam.

According to prosecutors, Mona Faiz Montrage, 30, of Accra, Ghana, appeared in federal court on Monday for her alleged involvement in a series of romance schemes aimed at elderly single people.She argued not liable to the charges and is set to be delivered before very long on $500,000 bond with GPS following through a lower leg screen, her attorney affirmed to The Post.

Montrage — who had around 3.4 million Instagram devotees of her page Hajia4Reall at one point — from no less than 2013 through 2019 was associated with a gathering of extortionists from West Africa who expected counterfeit characters to fool individuals into thinking they were involved with them utilizing messages, messages and online entertainment messages, the federal authorities said.

The con artists would then get the casualties to move cash to them deceptively —, for example, to assist with moving gold to the US from abroad, to determine sham FBI examinations and installments to assist with faking US Armed force officials in Afghanistan, court papers assert.According to court documents, Montrage allegedly tricked a victim in one case into sending her $89,000 through 82 wire transfers under the ruse that he would assist her father's Ghanaian farm.After a series of phone conversations under her real name, the filing claims that she sent the person a tribal marriage certificate to fool them into thinking the couple were married.

Prosecutors claim that Montrage also received money from a number of others who had been conned by people in her network.In total, the group stole $2 million from victims and transferred it to Montrage's bank accounts in the Bronx and elsewhere, including one she opened under the fictitious name of 4Reall Designs, a clothing company.

According to the indictment, she then allegedly distributed the stolen funds to other company employees."As claimed, Mona Faiz Montrage was an individual from a criminal scheme that explicitly designated more established Americans through sentiment tricks," Manhattan US Lawyer Damian Williams said in an explanation. " These tricks can be both monetarily and genuinely destroying for weak casualties."Because of the endeavors of our policing, Montrage was captured abroad and has been brought to the US to confront equity," the assertion proceeded.

The web-based entertainment powerhouse whose Instagram account was among the main 10 most continued in Ghana captured on Nov. 10, 2022, in the UK for the supposed trick and brought to the US on Friday.Montrage faces charges of conspiracy, money laundering, receiving stolen funds, and wire fraud. If she is found guilty of the main charge, she could spend up to 20 years in prison.

Montrage's legal advisor Adam Cortez told The Post: " Right now all we know is that there are six asserted casualties and just two managed a lady and only one of them guarantees that he managed Ms. Montrage."Cortez said he was unable to remark further until he gets additional data and proof from investigators.The lawyer said that his client can only travel to some parts of New York and New Jersey while he waits for her to come.