In a new revelation by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), all the people within the social and business circles of the arrested Ghanaian socialite are now persons of interest.
This was disclosed by the Deputy Manager of Ghana’s Financial Intelligence Centre, Sean Osei, who spoke on Starr FM during an interview with Francis Abban.
"On the matter of Hajia4Real’s romance scam case, the FIC had in partnership with Interpol and the FBI had surveillance on her social circles for 10 years. Currently, all within her business and social circles are persons of interest and are being tracked," Francis Abban tweeted.
"That means all she has had money transactions with or acquired properties and exchanged materials of value are being tracked. If she looks to plea bargain, all who aided and abetted her crimes will be picked up and the items derived from the laundered money confiscated," he added.
Speaking on Morning Starr on Starr FM Thursday, the Deputy Manager at the FIC, Shaun Henry Osei added that his agency is collaborating with INTERPOL and the FBI to investigate all persons found in Hajia4Reall’s circles.
“Obviously she’s not going to be working alone, she’s going to be working in a network. The evidence that you have access to will actually lead you to be able to find out who her greater network is and obviously if you find her greater network, by ininstinctou will want to look at those people because then they become persons of interest," he said.
In a report by Starr FM, the FIC is also asking the public to report suspicious wealth activities to the relevant authorities because such undertakings are often linked to terrorist activities.
“You can report to the FIC for starters. We receive reports from accountable institutions, from individuals so you can make a report and send it via mail and you can even bring it personally. Some of these young guys we see, I know most have been attributed to fraud but some are into very legitimate business," the Deputy Manager at the FIC said.
He continued that "they are into forex trade and other business… Forex trade, I’m not certain what the law says on it, but what I can say is that when it comes to crypto and other things I think as a country we don’t yet have a definitive position on that per what the Bank of Ghana is saying and usually when there’s space like that people are likely to explore.”
Hajia 4Reall's arrest took place in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2022, and she was subsequently extradited to the US on May 12, 2023. The prosecution alleges that Hajia's romance scam specifically targeted elderly and single Americans living alone.
Appearing in federal court in Manhattan on May 15, 2023, Hajia 4Reall faces charges related to her alleged involvement in multiple romance scams, however, she has pleaded not guilty.