🔗 Share this article

Criminal syndicates are allegedly purchasing established transport businesses to masquerade as legitimate drivers and systematically steal valuable shipments, according to new findings.

Evidence has emerged indicating that several haulage enterprises were purchased using deceased individuals' identifying details, enabling perpetrators to establish fraudulent business entities.

Sophisticated Deception Operation

A particular transport firm was subsequently contracted as a third-party provider by an unsuspecting UK transport business. Manufacturers then filled one of the subcontractor's vehicles with merchandise that subsequently disappeared completely.

Alison, who runs a central England transport company that was targeted by the bogus contractors, described the circumstances as "incredible" that "organized elements can infiltrate companies so openly".

"You should be concerned because it impacts your finances," commented an industry expert, previously a security director for a large supermarket.

Rising Cargo Theft Figures

Such brazen tactic constitutes just one of numerous methods criminals are targeting haulage companies that deliver commercial inventory and other materials across the country, with freight theft in the UK rising to £111m last year from £68m in 2023.

Recorded footage shows criminals looting trucks during deliveries, forcing entry into transport while stationary in traffic, removing security devices and entering depots, and taking complete trailers filled with merchandise.

Operator Accounts

Operators, who frequently need to stop and rest during night hours in their vehicles, have reported awakening to find the covered panels of their lorries cut by thieves attempting to reach the cargo within, with shipments of designer clothing, beverages and devices among the particularly common targets.

Organized Action

Police agencies have indicated that freight criminal activity is becoming "increasingly advanced, increasingly organized" and emphasized that police forces need to collaborate with the sector to address the problem.

Fraud affecting transport companies - encompassing perpetrators using bogus haulage businesses - is increasing in the UK, based on official sources.

"Our sector is under attack," says an industry representative, managing director of a prominent transport association.

Intricate Examination

The deception scheme seems to mirror a methodology previously observed in mainland Europe, where "legitimate transport businesses on the brink of bankruptcy" are purchased by coordinated crime syndicates who accept multiple cargoes "and then vanish".

Following the targeting of Alison's firm, handling officers informed her that authorities were additionally investigating comparable incidents in other areas of the UK.

Specific Incident

Alison's transport firm, which moves substantial amounts of pounds throughout the nation each year, had subcontracted to a smaller haulage firm for a assignment earlier this year.

"The insurance was active, their business permit was in place," she explains. "It appeared great." The lorry arrived at the production company, loading machinery loaded it with home improvement items and the lorry departed, she states.

But unbeknownst to Alison and the producers, the lorry had been using fake registration plates. It disappeared with the cargo valued at seventy-five thousand pounds.

"The first indication we had about it was the destination company contacted us and asked, 'where is our shipment disappeared to?'" Alison recalls. She tried to contact the contractor, but the number had been deactivated.

Identity Fraud Component

So who had taken the merchandise? Investigators followed a convoluted trail to try to determine the solution, involving a dead man's personal information, a unknown Eastern European woman and a £150k luxury vehicle.

The company Alison contracted was named Zus Transport. A thirty days prior to the theft, it had been sold by its previous owners - with zero suggestion they were participating in any wrongdoing.

Investigation discovered that the takeover was financed by a bank transfer from a entity owned by a UK-based Romanian transport operator named Ionut Calin, who used his middle name Robert.

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

However the individual had died in November 2024, confirmed with government sources. This was months before his financial details had been utilized to acquire multiple of the businesses and his identity employed to establish several of them at official business records.

Additional Examination

There is no reason to suspect he was involved in illegal activity, and numerous people on social media paid tribute to him as a decent man who assisted others in the industry.

The former owners of several of the transport businesses indicated they had dealt not with the deceased individual, but with a man known as "Benny".

Researchers located him by investigating the director of Zus Transport listed in official records, a Eastern European woman. Data about her is scarce, but a contact details for her was located. When searched in communication platforms, it displayed a account picture of a youthful woman, with a different identity, in a luxury automobile.

The account image assisted in identifying her as a relative of the deceased individual, and the spouse of a individual named Benjamin Mustata. The individual and his spouse had posed for a photo when taking delivery of a luxury vehicle from a retailer in April, a seven days after the theft targeting Alison's enterprise.

Confrontation

When shown photographs from social media of Mr Mustata to a former proprietor of one of the transport companies, he recognized him as "Benny" - the individual he had met face-to-face to discuss the transfer of the company.

A contact details