The London-based company, Flycatcher, which is known for selling a high-tech toy projector that helps kids learn how to draw and retails for $108, fell victim to an elaborate heist in which three truckloads of their merchandise were diverted from their intended locations, the New York Post reports. The theft is a new type of scam threatening businesses in which crooks are taking off with merchandise shipped in what appears to be legitimate firms, but are actually fraudulent.
The missing truckloads reported by Flycatcher containing 12,600 of its Smart Sketchers were shipped out of a warehouse in North Las Vegas, intended to go to a Walmart distribution center in Atlanta, according to The Post, but the trucks did not make it there.
The Post reports:
“According to police reports, Shipfusion, a warehouse operator that serves e-commerce companies including Flycatcher, tapped US Logistics, a major shipping broker based in Cincinnati, to coordinate the Smart Sketcher shipments out of its warehouse in North Las Vegas in mi
d-October.”
The Post continues, “Things took a wrong turn, however, after US Logistics offered the job to trucking firms. The broker accepted bids that purportedly were from two legitimate firms — but which instead turned out to be thieves impersonating the two companies, according to police reports.”
“One of the legitimate trucking firms was Chicago-based Orest Express, whose co-owner Ihor Motkalyuk said US Logistics contacted him last month to confirm whether his company had completed a drop-off to a California warehouse — to which, it turns out, Flycatcher’s toys had been diverted by crooks,” and “the other legitimate trucking firm whose name was used by the scammers was San Antonio-based Basse Truck Line. Its owner, Dylan Basse, said he was unaware of the mess until he was contacted by The Post. Nevertheless, he confirmed that someone has been using his business name and identification number over the past month.”
Crime rings have been targeting the trucking industry with scammers stealing both freight and identities, according to Motkalyuk. Part of the reason why these crime rings have been able to grow is because of “inadequate” policing on both the local and national levels.
“They are getting bolder and they are not afraid because they are not getting caught,” Motkalyuk said.
“So-called ‘strategic theft’ — where legitimate businesses are tricked into helping steal freight…now accounts for 33% of all cargo theft,” The Post reports.
Scott Cornell, a crime and theft specialist at Travelers, said that it looks like the thieves could have executed a “double-brokering” scam, though he is not involved with investigating the situation with Flycatcher.
“It always starts with identity theft where the scammer poses as a legitimate trucking company and submits a quote or bid to a broker. If they get through the vetting process they will then pretend to be a broker and they will go to a trucker and offer a good rate. That legitimate trucking company has no idea they are involved in a theft,” Cornell said.
“We can’t afford what’s happening,” Shay Chen, owner and founder of the Toy Company, told The Post. “We are losing so much money in the middle of the holidays.”
Chen explained that sellers began appearing on Amazon early in November selling the Flycatcher products at a 25% discount. Flycatcher purchased the goods from the sellers themselves, and despite cease-and-desist letters, the sellers continued the activity. After notifying Amazon of the problem, it wasn’t until The Post contacted Amazon that they shut down the sellers’ stores.
