[Stay on top of transportation news: .]
Truck Driver Uses Hacked Carrier Emails to Heist Cargo
3 Carriers Impersonated to Steal Loads to Florida, Illinois, California
Key Takeaways:
- Federal prosecutors allege Romoy Forbes stole freight after loads were fraudulently booked using hacked trucking carrier emails.
- Stolen shipments included snow crabs, blueberries and cologne allegedly diverted for illegal resale.
- The FBI investigated the case as part of Operation Take Back America.
A Jamaican immigrant from New York is facing federal charges for his that hacked truckload carriers’ email accounts to fraudulently book and retrieve shipments to sell.
Romoy Forbes, 31, living in Deer Park, N.Y., is being prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts after being charged with interstate transportation of stolen goods and conspiracy to commit that offense.
A conviction for interstate transportation of stolen goods carries a sentence up to 10 years imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 maximum fine. The conspiracy charge can result in no more than five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
In announcing the case against Forbes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts released a series of photos showing Forbes allegedly transporting cargo booked via hacked legitimate emails from shippers and crooks pretending to represent the shippers.
Federal prosecutors described crimes involving stealing high-value cargo using infiltrated emails from three real truckload carriers.
Snow Crabs
Stolen goods included 33,750 pounds of frozen snow crabs (worth $325,000) taken July 15 from a warehouse in Worcester, Mass.
Before the theft, a co-conspirator allegedly hacked into the email “of a trucking carrier company (Carrier 1). The co-conspirator, pretending to work for Carrier 1, and using the email account of Carrier 1, allegedly contacted and contracted with Shipper 1, a transportation business, to ship the goods to a customer in Jacksonville, Fla.
NY man arrested and charged for allegedly hacking into truck-load carrier email accounts to steal and resell cargo. Over 33,000 lbs of snow crab, blueberries, and $400K+ in designer cologne stolen.
READ: — U.S. Attorney Massachusetts (@DMAnews1)
Forbes then allegedly arrived at the warehouse in Worcester pretending to work for Carrier 1, loaded the seafood into his truck and drove off,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Instead of proceeding to the customer in Florida, Forbes allegedly transported the seafood to a grocery store in Queens, N.Y., “where Forbes allegedly took a picture of the pallets of packaged crabs with his cellphone.”
Blueberries
Forbes is accused of stealing a blueberry shipment a month earlier in New Jersey after an unnamed co-conspirator allegedly hacked into an email from a trucking carrier and contracted with a shipper to take the fruit to Illinois after mimicking the carrier company.
The defendant then allegedly arrived at the warehouse, pretended to work for Carrier 2, loaded the fruit in his truck and drove away.
“Instead of delivering the blueberries to the customer in Illinois, Forbes allegedly arranged to illicitly sell the fruit to his phone contact named, ‘My customer for everything,’ ” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated. The defendant also is accused of partaking in a similar crime in New York to steal $433,830 worth of cologne that was supposed to be delivered to a customer in Los Angeles.
Cologne
Forbes then allegedly arrived at the warehouse holding the goods and purportedly as a driver for Carrier 3, loaded the cargo into his truck and left.
“Instead of delivering the fragrances to the customer in California, Forbes allegedly contacted his “customer for everything,” offering to sell the cologne and sent the contact a video of the cologne, to which the contact replied, ‘OK,’ ” the U.S. Attorney’s Office added.
The FBI participated in the investigation as part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative in which the U.S. Department of Justice targets illegal immigration along with eliminating cartels and transnational criminal organizations.
Before his arrest in New York, Forbes reportedly was observed by FBI agents living out of his tractor-trailer, according to court documents.
Unreported, under-investigated, or unsolved.
That's how cargo theft crimes will stay if Congress does not pass Combating Organized Retail Crime Act to protect the integrity of America's supply chain.
Read the story by Adam Blanchard, CEO of Tanager Logistics and Double… — American Trucking (@TRUCKINGdotORG)
