Officials of the Department of Justice accused members or associates of a ring of organized crimes Armenians on Tuesday of stealing more than $ 83 million in Amazon charge, passing legitimate trucks and diverting goods for the company’s stores.
Since at least 2021, at least four people linked to the crime ring carried out a scheme in California to steal trucks loaded with goods, ranging from smart televisions and Iceme teachers to Sharkninja and air fryers, the DOJ alleged.
“Currently, Amazon is plagued by recurring robberies of its shipments, which is commonly known as ‘load theft’,” says the complaint.
Amazon has increased its efforts to track and close fraudulent, misleading and illegal activities in its extensive online store. Eliminating stolen goods is particularly challenging. CNBC reported in 2023 that Amazon suspended dozens of third -party merchants who claimed that they sold stolen goods, although many of those vendors said they were trapped without knowing it in the scheme, putting their businesses at risk of survival.
Amazon is not the only retailer affected by load theft. Experts said that the losses related to CNBC loading are estimated at about $ 1 billion or more a year.
In his complaint, the DOJ said the alleged scammers operated four transport carriers: AK Transportation, NBA Holdings, Belman Transport and Markos Transportation, which would obtain contracted load routes from Amazon Relay, an application used by truck drivers to obtain work, also known as charges.
Each truck driver is assigned a load for the collection of the warehouse of a manufacturer to be left in a Amazon installation. On the other hand, the groups would deviate from their designated routes, they would take part of the truck products and resell them or give them to the associates, prosecutors allege.
In some cases, the “self -denominated carriers” would complete their deliveries in a Amazon warehouse several days after they were expected to appear, according to the complaint.
DOJ officials confiscated the alleged iPhones of the scammers and found photos and videos of warehouses full of pot boxes, Keurig coffee machines, keratin shampoo, Weber grills and other products.
Amazon teams cooperated with the officials of the Department of Justice in their investigation, including the exchange of information on stolen goods and the details of the alleged accounts of the scammers in their online market.
A Amazon spokesman said in a statement that the company has “zero tolerance” for cargo theft and other forms of organized retail crimes. Amazon is based on a combination of internal equipment and technologies to prevent orc schemes. The company has also referred to the “thousands” of the bad actors of Orco to the officials responsible for enforcing the law.
“These references have resulted in arrests, seizures of products and recoveries, and the dismantling of orc networks in the United States and worldwide,” they said in a statement.
Doj officials linked the defendants with a litany of other alleged crimes, including the attempt at murder, kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms and medical care fraud. Several of the 13 defendants are expected to appear in a district court in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday, while one of the defendants appeared in a court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Tuesday and was arrested.
