Mona Montrage: Bronx social media star pleads guilty to conspiracy charges in multimillion-dollar catfishing scam
BRONX, NEW YORK CITY: A prominent social media influencer from the Bronx has reportedly entered a guilty plea for her part in laundering money from a multimillion-dollar catfishing scam that ran for a long time, according to authorities.
Prosecutors said that Mona Faiz Montrage, who had 3.4 million Instagram followers before deleting her account, lived in the Boogie Down from 2013 to 2019 and helped a group of con artists based in West Africa who used social media, texts, and emails to lure their victims.
Mona Faiz Montrage charged with conspiracy
According to authorities, a large number of the victims were elderly, single, and vulnerable men and women. The con artists persuaded lonely hearts across America to send money by taking on false identities.
A statement from federal authorities stated that Montrage entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to receive stolen money on February 21 in Manhattan Federal Court.
“In total, Montrage controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds from the enterprise," the feds said, as reported by News Beyond Detroit.
According to court documents, Montrage and other con artists persuaded their love-sick targets to assist in bringing gold into the US from abroad, to assist in wrapping up alleged FBI investigations, and to send money to support US Army officers in Afghanistan.
Authorities claimed that before Montrage wired a large portion of her illicit gains to her home country of Ghana, the money was first placed in her bank accounts in the Bronx.
According to court documents, she allegedly tricked one victim into sending her $89,000 through 82 wire transfers by saying her father's farm in Ghana needed assistance.
Mona Montrage sentenced to five years in prison
Authorities claimed that after a series of phone conversations using her real identity, she sent the person a tribal marriage certificate, tricking them into thinking the two were married.
Montrage will be sentenced on May 21 and could spend up to five years behind bars. A $2.1 million restitution requirement is also part of the plea agreement for her.
The social media influencer, whose Instagram account ranked in the Top 10 in Ghana, was detained for conspiracy on November 10, 2022, in the United Kingdom
She was then deported to the US in May. She posted updates on her page about her music, trips to London, and opulent items.
“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,” Manhattan US attorney Damian Williams said.
Based on court documents, Montrage is currently free on a $500,000 bail and residing with a relative in Union, New Jersey.
The Manhattan US Attorney's Office states that she is required to wear a GPS tracker and is only permitted limited travel in certain areas of New York and New Jersey.
