Mona Faiz Montrage – an influencer on Instagram that’s originally from Ghana, but now lives in New Jersey – has been arrested for allegedly taking part in a romance scam that saw several old men send her lavish gifts including prepaid cards and cryptocurrency.
Mona Montrage Sent to Court
According to her Instagram page, Montrage is an influencer who’s part of the African music scene. Many of her 4.2 million fans are under the impression that she often spends time in London and Accra, the capital of her native country of Ghana.
However, court documents reveal this may not be the case, and that she is in fact part of a large cybercrime ring in West Africa that thus far, has seen more than $2 million stolen from older (and vulnerable) American citizens, many of whom are in their 80s. Not long ago, Montrage was arrested in the United Kingdom and extradited to New York, where she made her first court appearance.
Thus far, she has pleaded not guilty to all the charges laid against her including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to receive stolen money, and money laundering. She’s 30 years of age and has allegedly been engaging in this scam-like behavior since 2013. She and her cronies would often reach out to the victims via dating apps and after earning their trust, would get them to believe that there was romance in the future. Papers detailing the indictment read:
Once members of the enterprise had successfully convinced victims that they were in a romantic relationship and had gained their trust, they convinced the victims, under false pretenses, to transfer money to bank accounts the victims believed were controlled by their romantic interests, when, in fact, the bank accounts were controlled by members of the enterprise.
In one instance, she took the scam so far that she sent her victim a tribal marriage certificate from Ghana, getting him to believe that they were officially and legally bound. The documents continue with:
Montrage sent the victim a tribal marriage certificate purporting to show that Montrage and the victim had been married in Ghana.
She got this victim to send close to $90,000 to her through a collection of payments. In another instance, she received close to $200K from a separate victim. Michael J. Driscoll – the FBI assistant director in charge – commented on how common romance scams have become. He said:
Romance scams – especially those that target older individuals – are of major concern.
This Is Too Common
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also threw its two cents in, saying:
These scammers pay close attention to the information you share, and don’t miss a beat becoming your perfect match. You like a thing, so that’s their thing, too. You’re looking to settle down.
