(NewsNation) — An Instagram influencer who had nearly three and a half million followers is heading to prison over an online romance scam.
Mona Faiz Montrage was sentenced to one year and a day in prison under a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in New York City last month. She admitted being part of a criminal enterprise based in her native Ghana that committed fraud against people and businesses in the U.S.
Montrage was part of an enterprise that “conducted the romance scams by sending the victims emails, text messages, and social media messages that deceived the victims into believing that they were in romantic relationships with a person who was, in fact, a fake identity,” said a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
“Romance scams such as Montrage’s harm 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,” the release added.
Meanwhile, two other women are free on bond after their arrests in June on charges of bilking older men out of more than $7 million in a 15-year-long series of romance scams.
“Rosanna Lisa Stanley and Gina Guy callously defrauded elderly victims who were simply looking for companionship. They allegedly used the millions of dollars in fraud proceeds to lead lives of luxury at their victims’ expense,” according to a separate news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Stanley was arrested in North Miami Beach, Florida, while Guy was arrested in New York. Both were formally charged with several counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Both were released on $250,000 bond each.
Scammers stole more than $3.4 billion from older Americans last year, according to an FBI report that shows a rise in losses through increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics to trick the vulnerable into giving up their life savings.
Losses from scams reported by Americans over the age of 60 last year were up 11% over the year before, according to the FBI’s report. Investigators are warning of a rise in brazen schemes to drain bank accounts that involve sending couriers in person to collect cash or gold from victims.
