Fraudsters eye up distribution as easy meal ticket

Two methods of fraud are on the increase as criminals seek out high-value goods such as IT equipment and smartphones/tablets

Distribution firms are being warned to be on their guard after a tried-and-tested method of theft is found to be on the increase.

And they are targeting high-value items such as electric goods and IT equipment.

An article on the Daily Mail website warned that criminal gangs are driving around in specially adapted white trucks with a door cut in the passenger side, which they use to raid canvas-sided trucks parked in lay-bys overnight, by slashing through the material.

Drivers are often asleep, but if they wake up they are often attacked and tied up while the deed is done, the article warned. It is estimated that this type of theft and the theft of trucks themselves cost the haulage industry about £1bn a year.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, detective sergeant Sue Coutts from specialist crime unit TruckPol, urged people to be on their guard for these white trucks.

“The gangs generally target soft-sided lorries parked in lay-bys and parking areas. They pull up alongside, open their secret side door and slash a hole in the canvas. If they like what they find, they will simply step across and offload the contents,” she said.

Mark Needham, chairman of specialist distributor Widget, said this practice has been going on for a while and expectations had changed as a result.

“In 2004 we were keenly awaiting our first consignment of TomTom Go satellite navigation units. The lorry carrying the kit left TomTom’s warehouse in Rotterdam at the end of the working day, took an evening ferry across the North Sea and ended up outside the third-party logistics company we were using at Hemel Hempstead in the wee small hours of the morning.

“As the logistics company did not open until seven, the driver, in his story, parked up outside and went to sleep in his cabin. When he woke up, there was a large gash in the side of his lorry and most of the stock was missing.

“Had he parked inside the facility, there were video cameras which would have recorded what happened, but there was no coverage of the road outside so we shall never know if a similar system of pillage was used, or indeed if the driver helped the thieves. Thefts from stock in transit are a risk of all high-value computer products I'm afraid, and it is now a condition of some transit insurance that drivers pick stuff up and go directly to the customer, not pausing anywhere and especially not overnight.”

Mike Pullon, chief executive of VARlink, said his firm had not fallen victim to this particular scam, but there was another type of fraudster that was targeting distribution – the company hijackers.

“We are seeing an increasing number of fraudsters stealing complete identities of legitimate IT resellers and using genuine company letterheads. We do all due diligence and they often pass the process. What they are doing is placing an order for an obscure item that is not in stock, which they then cancel and later on enquire about smartphones, asking them to be delivered to a third-party address.

“This is nothing unusual because a lot of resellers use third-party addresses. However, we are managing to catch them out because we are checking fax numbers off with the company they are claiming to be, and also I send a personal letter to all first-time customers and I am getting a few phone calls from companies saying they have not opened an account," he said.

Pullon said even more worryingly, one or two lines had been given credit insurance, which is making the credit insurance companies even more nervous.

“These fraudsters are incredibly aware of the processes distribution goes through,” he added. “They comply with all the requests and know there is no way they can be caught.”

“We rang the local police about this, but they are just not interested. They keep telling us it is a Trading Standards issue, which it really is not.”