An Instagram influencer faces various charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to receive stolen money, according to US officials
Mona Faiz Montrage portrays a lavish lifestyle of designer outfits, shopping trips and overseas travel on social media. To her 4.2 million Instagram followers, she’s a musician and a mogul who jet sets between the Ghanaian capital of Accra and London. But a federal indictment unsealed Monday alleges she was part of a cybercrime organization from West Africa that committed a series of scams including a romance scam which bilked over $2 million from older and vulnerable Americans.
In one instance, she allegedly used her real name to communicate with a victim by phone and received money directly from the victim. She’d tricked the victim into believing that they were officially married, court documents said. “Montrage sent the victim a tribal marriage certificate purporting to show that Montrage and the victim had been married in Ghana,” court documents said. She allegedly convinced the victim to send her $89,000 through 82 wire transfers for her father’s farm in Ghana.
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