The criminal operation known as “The Enterprise,” of which social media influencer and artist Mona Faiz Montrage, better known by her stage name Hajia4Reall, was a member, was disclosed by the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
According to the indictment and claims made in public filings and court proceedings, Montrage was part of a criminal organization (referred to as the “Enterprise”) headquartered in West Africa that perpetrated several frauds against American people and companies, including romance scams, from at least in or around 2013 through at least in or around 2019.
Many of the elderly, single men and women who fell victim to romance scams at the Enterprise were weak targets.
The victims of the Enterprise’s romance frauds were often tricked into thinking they were in a love relationship with someone who was a fictitious persona taken on by members of the Enterprise through emails, texts, and social media messaging.
Members of the Enterprise persuaded victims to transfer money to bank accounts they mistakenly believed were controlled by their romantic interests after successfully convincing them that they were in a romantic relationship and winning their trust. In reality, the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise.
Montrage was given money by several romance scam victims who were duped into sending money by Enterprise members.
Payments to bring gold to the United States from overseas payments to settle a fictitious FBI inquiry and payments to help a fictitious U.S. Army commander obtain money from Afghanistan were some of the false pretenses used to persuade victims to wire money to Montrage.
Over $2 million in fraudulent funds were received by bank accounts under Montrage’s control from the Enterprise.
Montrage is currently facing a possible five-year jail sentence for one count of conspiring to receive stolen money, to which he has entered a guilty plea.
She also consented to pay $2,164,758.41 in forfeiture and the same amount in restitution. Paul A. Crotty, the U.S. District Judge, will sentence Montage.
The maximum punishment that Congress has mandated in this case is given here solely for informative purposes, as the judge will decide the defendant’s sentence in any case.
