The United States Attorney’s Office has announced the sentencing of a 34-year-old Ghanaian man, Wigbert Bandie, for his role in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, violating 18 U.S.C. §§ 1349 and 1343.
Bandie, who pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement, was sentenced to 63 months in prison. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led the investigation that resulted in his indictment. Following his prison term, he will serve three years of supervised release. Additionally, Bandie has been ordered to pay $2.18 million in restitution to 11 victims affected by the scheme.
Court documents reveal that Bandie and his co-conspirators used false identities on social media, dating websites, and other internet platforms to deceive victims, primarily elderly individuals, into forming friendships and romantic relationships. Bandie played multiple roles in exploiting these connections to manipulate victims into sending money via wire transfers, checks, U.S. mail, and package delivery services.
The operation relied on “romance scammers” or “handlers” who posed as potential friends or romantic partners. They quickly developed relationships with victims through social media, text messages, emails, and phone calls. Once trust was established, scammers would request emergency financial assistance or present fake investment opportunities.
Victims were often coerced into sending increasingly larger sums of money. The losses ranged from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars. For example, one victim in the Eastern District of Tennessee lost over $280,000 to the scheme within a few months.
Other conspirators acted as “money mules,” facilitating the transfer of stolen funds from the U.S. to overseas accounts through bank wire transfers or postal services.
In July, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that another Ghanaian, Mona Faiz Montrage, also known as Hajia4Reall was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken on June 28, 2024. Montrage previously pled guilty on February 21, 2024, to conspiracy to receive stolen money.
From at least in or about 2013 through in or about 2019, Montrage was a member of a criminal enterprise (the “Enterprise”) based in West Africa that committed a series of frauds against individuals and businesses in the U.S., including romance scams.
Many of the Enterprise’s romance scam victims were vulnerable, older men and women who lived alone. The Enterprise frequently 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 assumed by members of the Enterprise.
Once members of the Enterprise had successfully convinced victims that they were in a romantic relationship and had gained their trust, they convinced the victims, under false pretenses, to transfer money to bank accounts the victims believed were controlled by their romantic interests, when, in fact, the bank accounts were controlled by members of the Enterprise.
Montrage is a Ghanaian public figure who rose to fame as an influencer through her Instagram profile under the username “Hajia4Reall,” which at one point had approximately 3.4 million Instagram followers and was among the top 10 most followed profiles in Ghana.
Montrage received money from approximately forty victims of romance frauds, whom members of the Enterprise tricked into sending money. Among the false pretenses used to induce victims to send money to Montrage were payments to transport gold to the U.S. from overseas, payments to resolve a fake Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) investigation, and payments to assist a fake U.S. Army officer in receiving funds from Afghanistan.
In total, MONTRAGE controlled bank accounts that received over $2 million in fraudulent funds for the Enterprise. In addition to the prison term, MONTRAGE, 32, of Accra, Ghana, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and order to forfeit $216,475 and pay restitution in the amount of $1,387,458.
The sentencing highlights the ongoing efforts of U.S. authorities to combat romance and wire fraud schemes that target vulnerable individuals.
