🔗 Share this article

Organized crime groups are allegedly purchasing established haulage businesses to masquerade as authentic truckers and systematically appropriate valuable cargo, according to new investigations.

Evidence has surfaced indicating that several haulage operations were acquired using deceased individuals' personal details, enabling perpetrators to create fraudulent commercial entities.

Sophisticated Deception Operation

One haulage firm was later contracted as a third-party provider by an unaware UK logistics company. Manufacturers then filled one of the subcontractor's lorries with merchandise that subsequently disappeared entirely.

The business owner, who operates a central England haulage enterprise that was targeted by the bogus subcontractors, characterized the circumstances as "incredible" that "organized elements can target companies so blatantly".

"Consumers need to be concerned because it affects your wallet," stated John Redfern, formerly a safety director for a major supermarket.

Rising Freight Crime Statistics

Such audacious method constitutes just one of multiple ways perpetrators are focusing on haulage firms that deliver commercial inventory and additional materials throughout the nation, with freight criminal activity in the UK rising to £111m last year from £68 million in 2023.

Documented video demonstrates criminals looting trucks during distribution, breaking into transport while stopped in traffic, removing security devices and breaching warehouses, and stealing complete trailers filled with merchandise.

Driver Experiences

Drivers, who often need to pause and rest during night hours in their vehicles, have described waking to discover the curtained sides of their trucks cut by criminals attempting to access the cargo within, with consignments of branded apparel, alcohol and electronics among the particularly frequent targets.

Organized Action

Police agencies have indicated that cargo crime is becoming "more advanced, more organized" and emphasized that law enforcement forces need to collaborate with the sector to address the problem.

Deception targeting transport companies - including perpetrators using bogus haulage businesses - is increasing in the UK, based on authoritative reports.

"The sector is under attack," states Richard Smith, managing officer of a prominent road haulage association.

Intricate Investigation

The fraud operation seems to mirror a methodology previously identified in continental Europe, where "authentic transport companies on the brink of bankruptcy" are acquired by coordinated criminal groups who collect multiple shipments "and then disappear".

Following the targeting of Alison's company, investigating officers told her that authorities were also investigating comparable crimes in other regions of the UK.

Specific Incident

The haulage firm, which transports millions of pounds throughout the nation each year, had contracted out to a smaller haulage company for a assignment previously this year.

"Their coverage was active, their operators' licence was in place," she says. "It appeared great." The lorry came at the production facility, loading equipment loaded it with DIY products and the lorry drove off, she reports.

But unbeknownst to the business owner and the manufacturers, the lorry had been using fraudulent number plates. It disappeared with the cargo valued at £75,000.

"Initial indication we had regarding it was the receiving business contacted us and said, 'where's our load gone" the owner recalls. She attempted to contact the contractor, but the number had been disconnected.

Identity Theft Component

Therefore who had taken the goods? Researchers traced a complex trail to try to establish the solution, including a dead individual's identity, a unknown Romanian female and a £150,000 luxury vehicle.

The business the owner hired was called Zus Transport. A month prior to the theft, it had been transferred by its previous proprietors - with no indication they were involved in any improper activity.

Research revealed that the acquisition was financed by a bank transfer from a company owned by a UK-based Romanian lorry driver called Ionut Calin, who went by his second name Robert.

Researchers found a group of five haulage businesses, including Zus Transport, apparently acquired by the individual this year.

But the individual had died in November 2024, verified with government sources. This was months before his financial details had been used to acquire several of the businesses and his name used to establish several of them at official company registries.

Further Examination

Exists zero basis to believe he was involved in crime, and numerous people on online platforms expressed respect to him as a good person who helped others in the industry.

The former proprietors of multiple of the haulage businesses indicated they had interacted not with Mr Calin, but with a individual called "Benny".

Researchers identified him by investigating the director of Zus Transport named in government documents, a Romanian female. Data about her is limited, but a phone number for her was found. When checked in messaging platforms, it displayed a profile picture of a young female, with a alternative identity, in a high-end vehicle.

The profile picture helped in identifying her as a relative of Mr Calin, and the wife of a individual named Benjamin Mustata. Mr Mustata and his wife had posed for a image when collecting a high-end vehicle from a dealership in April, a week after the incident targeting the business owner's company.

Encounter

When shown images from online platforms of the individual to a former proprietor of one of the haulage businesses, he identified him as "Benny" - the individual he had encountered face-to-face to discuss the sale of the business.

A contact details