The New York court announced that Ghanaian influencer “Mona 4Reall”, arrested in November in the United Kingdom, has been extradited to the United States and charged with participating in a social media fraud scheme involving senior American victims.
At a sentencing hearing on Monday in Manhattan federal court, the influence known as “Mona 4Reall” or “Hajia4Reall”, pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering and wire fraud. In fact, she is suspected of having even faked a marriage to a victim, from whom she allegedly took $89,000.
The influencer, Mona Faiz Montrage, is 30 years old and has up to about “3.4 million” followers on Instagram. She is active in the fashion and music sectors.
The young woman is accused of participating between 2013 and 2019 in a “criminal enterprise” based in West Africa, which aimed to scam American victims, mostly “vulnerable and elderly men and women living alone”, with the promise of romantic stories.
A statement from the Manhattan Federal Prosecutor’s Office said the victims would receive “emails”, “text messages” or “social media messages claiming to be in a romantic relationship” with one of the scammers, and then once they had gained their trust, they would ask them “under false pretenses to transfer money to bank accounts”.