A warning has gone out
to shippers and freight
companies to exercise extra
vigilance against fraud, which
is an ongoing global problem.
Three recent reports
indicate the extent of the
scourge.
The Namibian Port
Authority (Namport) says its
offices are inundated with
calls from victims of bogus
transporters who are still
continuing to call customers
claiming to have released
containers from Namport on
their behalf.
According to spokesperson
Cliff Shikaumbi, the
“scammers” are requesting
down payments of between
N$3 500.00 to N$8 000.00
for this supposedly rendered
service.
“They have now employed
a different strategy targeting
towns like Lüderitz,
Keetmanshoop, Otjiwarongo
and Tsumeb,” he told FTW.
In South Africa fraudsters
are using sophisticated scams
to redirect and hijack cargo,
according to Ans Basson of
Gemini Logistics in Zeerust.
“There are two persons
calling themselves Richard
Mali and Elvis Mali who
phone transport companies or
transport brokers representing
themselves as employees of
certain companies. It could be
the same person though, using
two names,” she says.
Mali contracted Gemini
Freight to carry a cargo of
groundnuts from Durban to
Randfontein on behalf of “Blue
Sands” in Gauteng.
The scammers provided “a
set of documents in the name
of Blue Sands and supplied all
the supporting documentation
including banking detail
and in transit insurance
documentation that we
requested, plus a form which
we required to be completed
and signed.
“Gemini Freight was
also asked to supply its
documentation for the
standard credit check.
A person calling himselves
“Elvis” is now using this
information to falsely present
himself as a representative of
Gemini Freight,” she says.
The fraudsters managed
to redirect the load to a
warehouse in Rosslyn while
it was en route from Durban
to Randfontein, where it was
picked up by a second vehicle.
They went so far as to
insure the load in the name of
Gemini Freight.
Basson has written to the
Road Freight Association
providing more detail,
including police case numbers,
and wanted to warn other
operators.
Identity theft in the United
States is described as
“a growing scam in the
trucking industry”, according
to Adrian Gonzalez, host of
Talking Logistics.
“One of the fastest
growing forms of cargo theft
is deceptive pick-ups (aka
fictitious pick-ups),” he says.
Thieves assume the
identity of a long-established
firm backed by insurance
policies, fake drivers’ licences
and other documents.
“Then the con artists offer
low bids to freight brokers
who handle shipping for
numerous companies. When
the truckers show up at a
company, everything seems
legitimate. But once driven
away, the goods are never
seen again,” says Gonzalez.
Cases of deceptive pickups
are growing so fast,
that “within a few years,
identity theft-related scams
are expected to become the
most prevalent method of
cargo theft,” according to
Keith Lewis, vice president
of CargoNet.
Shipping scams multiply
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