The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
Influencer Mona Montrage pleads guilty to conspiracy charge in multimillion-dollar catfishing scam
A prominent Ghanaian social media influencer from The Bronx has ‘fessed up to swindling over $2 million from older, single American men and women in a depraved lonely hearts scam, federal aut…
nypost.com
Influencer Mona Montrage pleads guilty to conspiracy charge in multimillion-dollar catfishing scam
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Social Links for Dean Balsamini
Published March 9, 2024, 12:00 p.m. ET
A prominent social media influencer from The Bronx has pleaded guilty to her role in laundering the proceeds of a long running multimillion dollar catfishing scam, authorities said.
Mona Faiz Montrage, who boasted 3.4 million Instagram followers before she removed her profile from the platform, was living in the Boogie Down from 2013 to 2019 while assisting a West Africa-based group of con artists who relied on emails, texts and social media messages to reel in their romantic rubes, prosecutors said.
Many of those taken in were vulnerable, older men and women who lived alone, authorities said. The con artists used fake identities to convince the lonely hearts across America to send them cash.
6 Mona Faiz Montrage — who had 3.4 million Instagram followers of her
page Hajia4Reall – pled guilty to conspiracy to receive stolen money, the feds said Instagram / @hajia4reall
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.