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Organized crime groups are reportedly acquiring established haulage businesses to pose as legitimate drivers and methodically steal valuable shipments, based on recent findings.

Proof has surfaced indicating that several transport operations were acquired using deceased persons' personal details, enabling perpetrators to create fraudulent business structures.

Elaborate Fraud Scheme

One transport firm was later hired as a third-party provider by an unaware UK logistics business. Producers then loaded one of the subcontractor's lorries with merchandise that subsequently disappeared entirely.

Alison, who operates a Midlands-based haulage enterprise that was victimized by the bogus contractors, characterized the situation as "incredible" that "organized groups can target businesses so openly".

"You need to be concerned because it affects your wallet," stated an industry expert, previously a security director for a major retail chain.

Rising Freight Theft Figures

Such brazen method constitutes just one of multiple methods criminals are targeting haulage firms that transport commercial inventory and other materials across the nation, with cargo criminal activity in the UK increasing to £111 million last year from £68m in 2023.

Documented video demonstrates criminals looting lorries during distribution, forcing entry into transport while stationary in traffic, cutting security devices and breaching depots, and stealing entire trailers packed with goods.

Operator Experiences

Drivers, who often must stop and rest during night hours in their vehicles, have described waking to discover the covered panels of their lorries cut by criminals attempting to access the cargo inside, with consignments of branded clothing, alcohol and devices among the particularly common targets.

Organized Response

Police agencies have indicated that freight criminal activity is becoming "increasingly advanced, more organized" and stressed that law enforcement units need to work with the sector to tackle the issue.

Deception affecting transport companies - including criminals using fraudulent haulage businesses - is rising in the UK, according to authoritative sources.

"The sector is under attack," states an industry representative, executive director of a major transport association.

Intricate Examination

The fraud scheme appears to follow a pattern earlier observed in continental Europe, where "authentic transport businesses on the brink of bankruptcy" are purchased by organized crime syndicates who accept multiple cargoes "and then disappear".

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

Specific Incident

Alison's haulage business, which moves millions of pounds throughout the nation each year, had contracted out to a smaller transport firm for a job earlier this year.

"The coverage was active, their operators' licence was valid," she explains. "The situation looked promising." The lorry arrived at the production company, loading equipment loaded it with DIY products and the truck departed, she reports.

However unbeknownst to Alison and the producers, the lorry had been using fake registration plates. It disappeared with the cargo worth at £75,000.

"Initial awareness we had regarding it was the receiving business contacted us and said, 'where is our load gone" the owner recalls. She attempted to contact the subcontractor, but the phone had been disconnected.

Personal Theft Element

So who had taken the merchandise? Investigators followed a convoluted trail to try to determine the solution, involving a deceased man's personal information, a mystery Romanian woman and a £150,000 luxury automobile.

The business the owner hired was called Zus Transport. A thirty days before the theft, it had been transferred by its former owners - with zero suggestion they were involved in any improper activity.

Investigation discovered that the acquisition was financed by a bank transfer from a company controlled by a UK-based Romanian lorry driver named Ionut Calin, who went by his middle name Robert.

Investigators identified a group of multiple haulage companies, including Zus Transport, seemingly purchased by Mr Calin this year.

But Mr Calin had died in November 2024, confirmed with official records. This was months prior to his bank information had been used to acquire several of the businesses and his name employed to establish three of them at government business registries.

Further Examination

There is no basis to believe he was involved in illegal activity, and many people on online platforms expressed respect to him as a good man who helped others in the sector.

The previous owners of several of the transport businesses stated they had interacted not with Mr Calin, but with a individual known as "the pseudonym".

Researchers identified him by investigating the director of Zus Transport listed in official documents, a Romanian female. Data about her is limited, but a phone number for her was found. When searched in communication applications, it showed a account picture of a young female, with a different identity, in a high-end automobile.

The account picture helped in recognizing her as a family member of Mr Calin, and the spouse of a man called Benjamin Mustata. Mr Mustata and his spouse had posed for a photo when taking delivery of a luxury vehicle from a dealership in April, a seven days after the incident affecting the business owner's enterprise.

Confrontation

When shown photographs from online platforms of the individual to a previous proprietor of one of the haulage businesses, he recognized him as "the pseudonym" - the man he had encountered in person to negotiate the transfer of the company.

A phone number