🔗 Share this article

Criminal syndicates are allegedly purchasing established haulage businesses to pose as legitimate drivers and systematically steal high-value cargo, according to recent investigations.

Proof has emerged indicating that several transport operations were purchased using deceased individuals' personal information, enabling perpetrators to establish bogus commercial structures.

Sophisticated Fraud Operation

A particular haulage company was later contracted as a subcontractor by an unsuspecting UK logistics business. Manufacturers then filled one of the contractor's vehicles with merchandise that subsequently vanished completely.

The business owner, who runs a Midlands-based transport company that was victimized by the fraudulent contractors, characterized the situation as "unbelievable" that "organized groups can target companies so openly".

"Consumers should care because it impacts your wallet," stated John Redfern, previously a security manager for a large retail chain.

Increasing Cargo Theft Figures

This audacious method represents just one of multiple methods criminals are focusing on haulage firms that transport commercial inventory and other materials throughout the nation, with freight theft in the UK rising to £111 million last year from £68 million in 2023.

Documented footage demonstrates criminals raiding trucks during deliveries, breaking into vehicles while stopped in traffic, cutting security devices and entering depots, and taking complete containers filled with merchandise.

Driver Experiences

Drivers, who frequently need to pause and rest during night hours in their vehicles, have described awakening to find the covered panels of their trucks slashed by criminals attempting to access the contents inside, with shipments of branded apparel, beverages and devices among the most frequent objectives.

Organized Response

Police agencies have indicated that freight criminal activity is becoming "more sophisticated, more organized" and emphasized that law enforcement forces need to collaborate with the industry to address the issue.

Fraud targeting hauliers - encompassing criminals using fraudulent transport companies - is rising in the UK, according to official sources.

"Our sector is under attack," states an industry representative, executive officer of a major road haulage association.

Intricate Investigation

This fraud operation seems to follow a methodology earlier observed in mainland Europe, where "authentic transport businesses on the brink of insolvency" are purchased by coordinated crime syndicates who collect multiple shipments "and then vanish".

After the targeting of the business owner's company, investigating officers informed her that police were additionally investigating comparable incidents in different regions of the UK.

Specific Case

Alison's haulage firm, which moves substantial amounts of pounds around the nation each year, had subcontracted to a less established transport company for a assignment previously this year.

"Their insurance was in place, their business licence was valid," she explains. "It looked promising." The vehicle came at the manufacturing facility, filling equipment filled it with home improvement products and the lorry departed, she states.

However unbeknownst to the business owner and the manufacturers, the lorry had been using fake registration plates. It vanished with the cargo valued at £75,000.

"Initial indication we had regarding it was the destination company called us and asked, 'where is our shipment gone" the owner says. She attempted to contact the subcontractor, but the number had been disconnected.

Personal Fraud Element

Therefore who had appropriated the merchandise? Investigators followed a complex trail to try to determine the answer, involving a dead individual's personal information, a unknown Romanian woman and a £150,000 high-end automobile.

The company Alison hired was called Zus Transport. A thirty days prior to the theft, it had been transferred by its previous owners - with no indication they were involved in any improper activity.

Investigation discovered that the takeover was financed by a bank transfer from a entity controlled by a UK-based Eastern European lorry driver called Ionut Calin, who used his middle name Robert.

Researchers identified a network of multiple haulage companies, including Zus Transport, seemingly acquired by the individual this year.

But Mr Calin had passed away in November 2024, verified with government records. This was several months prior to his financial details had been utilized to purchase several of the businesses and his identity employed to register three of them at official business registries.

Further Examination

There is zero reason to believe he was involved in crime, and numerous people on social media expressed respect to him as a good man who helped others in the industry.

The former proprietors of several of the transport businesses stated they had interacted not with Mr Calin, but with a individual called "Benny".

Investigators identified him by examining the registered officer of Zus Transport named in government records, a Romanian woman. Data about her is limited, but a phone number for her was located. When searched in messaging applications, it showed a profile picture of a young female, with a different identity, in a high-end automobile.

The account picture assisted in identifying her as a family member of the deceased individual, and the wife of a man named Benjamin Mustata. Mr Mustata and his wife had posed for a image when collecting a luxury automobile from a retailer in April, a seven days following the theft targeting Alison's company.

Encounter

When presented photographs from online platforms of Mr Mustata to a previous owner of one of the transport businesses, he recognized him as "the pseudonym" - the individual he had met face-to-face to negotiate the sale of the business.

A contact details