People pretending to represent a legitimate trucking company stole a shipment of $400,000 in lobster meat that was due to be sold at Costco stores.
The lobster meat was being stored at Lineage Logistics in Taunton, Massachusetts, when, on Dec. 12, the fake truckers showed up, gave their credentials to freight broker Rexing Cos., loaded the meat onto a truck and drove off, Rexing CEO Dylan Rexing told the Taunton Daily Gazette on Tuesday.
About an hour later, the GPS monitor on the truck was turned off, preventing Rexing Cos. from tracking the lobster, Mr. Rexing said.
The meat was supposed to be shipped to Costco locations in Minnesota and Illinois. The freight broker, based in the Midwest, believes the trucking company is real but that the suspects were impersonating its employees.
“This theft wasn’t random. It followed a pattern we’re seeing more and more, where criminals impersonate legitimate carriers using spoofed emails and burner phones to hijack high-value freight while it’s in transit,” Mr. Rexing told NBC News.
He told Business Insider that the operation was “organized crime at the finest.”
The FBI is investigating the incident.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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