Alcona Treasurer Thomas Katona Lost 1 Million to 419 Scam
Everyone has heard of the Nigerian Scam, right? We’ll, actually, there are a lot of people that have never heard of this and one example is Thomas Katona, the Alcona County Treasurer in Michigan.
Thomas Katona, 56, of Harrisville got slammed with nine felonies that included embezzlement and fraud; this right after an investigation by authorities of numerous unauthorized wire transfers he allegedly made of county funds to overseas bank accounts.
The Nigerian Scan is a worldwide scam and brought in 5 Billion US$ in 96! This scam is also known as the “Advance Fee Fraud” or “419 Fraud”.
Here is how the Scam goes:
A person receives an unsolicited message (can be from fax, email or other method) which talks about a large sum of money retained by a person formally in power and needs to get to the states. They are willing to give you money, but you need to put up some type of advance fee. Once you have paid the fee, problems arise that require more money – they are very creative and manage to string most people along at this point.
Eventually, the victim falls into a trap where there is no escape and they lose all their money. It’s almost impossible to get your money back and there is nothing (very little) anyone can do to help.
We’ll, it appears that Tomas fell for this scam by using his own money first, then 1.25 Million of Alcona County Funds. 1.25 Million is 1/4 of the county budget - not really a wise investment!
One thing is for sure, Tomas Katona will be remembered!
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