19th May 2023 2:20:20 PM
2 mins readGhana’s Financial Intelligence Centre (IFC) has announced their intention to locate individuals who form part of Mona Faiz Montrage's (Hajia4Reall) network to make headway in their investigations into a $2million romance scam the Ghanaian socialite cum musician has been implicated in.The IFC is working in conjunction with INTERPOL and FBI on the case being prosecuted by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.
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In an interview with Starr FM, Deputy Manager of IFC, Shaun Henry Osei, said since Hajia4Reall is known to have worked with a team 'The Enterprise' it is imperative to locate its members.“Obviously, she’s not going to be working alone, she’s going to be working in a network.
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The evidence that you have access to will actually lead you to be able to find out who her greater network is and obviously, if you find her greater network, by instinct you will want to look at those people because then they become persons of interest."Hajia4Reall is known to particularly have many associates in both entertainment and business circles in Ghana, and was an ambassador for some business brands.
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The socialite was arrested in the United Kingdom and extradited to the US on May 12, 2023.She is said to have received money from several victims of romance frauds whom members of the Enterprise tricked into sending money.
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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.
to one victim, MONTRAGE used her real name and spoke to the victim several times by
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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.
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“In total, MONTRAGE controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds from the Enterprise,” the statement added.In view of this, the charges - 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 which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
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Montrage 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.But Hajia4Reall has pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan federal court.
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