🔗 Share this article

Organized crime groups are reportedly acquiring legitimate haulage companies to pose as authentic drivers and systematically steal high-value cargo, according to new findings.

Proof has emerged indicating that several transport operations were purchased using deceased persons' identifying information, enabling criminals to establish bogus business entities.

Sophisticated Fraud Scheme

One transport company was subsequently contracted as a third-party provider by an unaware UK logistics business. Producers then filled one of the subcontractor's vehicles with merchandise that later vanished completely.

The business owner, who operates a Midlands-based haulage company that was targeted by the bogus subcontractors, characterized the situation as "incredible" that "organized elements can target companies so blatantly".

"You should be concerned because it impacts your finances," stated an industry expert, formerly a safety manager for a large retail chain.

Rising Cargo Theft Figures

Such audacious method constitutes just one of numerous methods criminals are focusing on transport companies that transport commercial inventory and other supplies throughout the nation, with cargo criminal activity in the UK rising to £111m last year from £68m in 2023.

Recorded footage demonstrates perpetrators looting trucks during deliveries, forcing entry into transport while stationary in traffic, removing security devices and entering warehouses, and taking entire trailers filled with merchandise.

Operator Accounts

Operators, who frequently need to pause and rest during night hours in their vehicles, have reported waking to find the covered sides of their trucks slashed by thieves attempting to reach the cargo within, with consignments of designer apparel, alcohol and devices among the particularly common objectives.

Organized Action

Law enforcement agencies have stated that cargo criminal activity is becoming "increasingly sophisticated, increasingly organized" and stressed that police forces need to collaborate with the industry to address the issue.

Deception affecting transport companies - encompassing perpetrators using fraudulent transport companies - is increasing in the UK, according to official sources.

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

Intricate Examination

The deception operation appears to follow a methodology earlier observed in mainland Europe, where "legitimate haulage businesses on the verge of insolvency" are acquired by coordinated crime syndicates who accept multiple shipments "and then disappear".

Following the victimization of Alison's firm, investigating personnel told her that authorities were also examining similar incidents in other areas of the UK.

Specific Incident

The transport firm, which transports millions of currency throughout the country each year, had subcontracted to a less established haulage firm for a assignment previously this year.

"Their insurance was in place, their operators' permit was valid," she says. "The situation looked great." The vehicle came at the manufacturing facility, loading machinery loaded it with home improvement items and the lorry drove off, she reports.

But unbeknownst to Alison and the producers, the vehicle had been using fake number plates. It vanished with the shipment valued at seventy-five thousand pounds.

"Initial indication we had about it was the receiving business contacted us and asked, 'where is our shipment gone" the owner recalls. She tried to contact the subcontractor, but the number had been deactivated.

Identity Fraud Component

So who had appropriated the merchandise? Investigators traced a convoluted path to try to establish the answer, including a dead man's personal information, a unknown Eastern European woman and a £150k high-end vehicle.

The business the owner contracted was called Zus Transport. A month before the theft, it had been sold by its previous owners - with no suggestion they were involved in any wrongdoing.

Research discovered that the acquisition was financed by a bank transfer from a company controlled by a UK-based Romanian transport operator called Ionut Calin, who used his second name Robert.

Investigators found a group of multiple transport businesses, comprising Zus Transport, apparently acquired by the individual this year.

But the individual had died in November 2024, confirmed with official records. This was months prior to his bank information had been used to acquire multiple of the businesses and his name employed to establish several of them at government business records.

Additional Examination

Exists no reason to believe he was participating in illegal activity, and many people on social media paid tribute to him as a good person who helped others in the industry.

The former proprietors of multiple of the haulage businesses stated they had dealt not with Mr Calin, but with a individual called "the pseudonym".

Researchers identified him by examining the director of Zus Transport named in government documents, a Eastern European female. Information about her is limited, but a phone details for her was found. When searched in communication applications, it displayed a account image of a young female, with a alternative identity, in a luxury automobile.

The account image assisted in identifying her as a relative of Mr Calin, and the wife of a individual called Benjamin Mustata. The individual and his wife had been photographed for a image when collecting a high-end vehicle from a dealership in April, a week following the theft affecting the business owner's company.

Confrontation

When shown images from online platforms of Mr Mustata to a former owner of one of the haulage companies, he recognized him as "the pseudonym" - the individual he had encountered face-to-face to negotiate the sale of the company.

A contact number