Hajia4real gets one year one day in Prison

The sentencing for Mona Faiz Montrage (Hajia4real)  for romance scams has concluded in the US.

According to Inner City Press on X ( Twitter) The Judge said : “I sentence Ms Montrage to one year and one day in prison, the extra day to allow “good time.”

Defense said: “We propose she be allowed to fly back to Ghana as soon as she is released, with no ICE detention

AUSA said:  “We consent Adjourned”

Montrage pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court Feb. 21 to conspiracy to receive stolen money, federal authorities said “In total, Montrage controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds from the enterprise, the feds said.

Montrage and other scammers convinced their lovelorn marks to help move gold to the US from overseas; to help resolve purported FBI investigations; and send cash to help US Army officers in Afghanistan, according to court papers. Her ill-gotten gains were deposited in Montrage’s Bronx bank accounts before she wired much of the money to her native Ghana, authorities said.

She allegedly charmed one pigeon into sending her $89,000 through 82 wire transfers by claiming her father’s farm in Ghana needed help, the court documents said.

She tricked that person into believing the pair were married by sending them a tribal marriage certificate after a series of phone conversations using her real identity, authorities alleged.

“Romance scams such as Montrage’s harmed her vulnerable, elderly victims not only in the cruel betrayal of trust in the realization that their online romantic connection was fiction, but by also callously stealing their money,” said Manhattan US attorney Damian Williams.