DOJ charges Armenian crime ring in Amazon theft worth over $83 million

Department of Justice officials on Tuesday charged members or associates of an Armenian organized crime ring with stealing more than $83 million worth of cargo from Amazon by posing as legitimate truck drivers and siphoning off goods destined for the company’s warehouses.

Since at least 2021, at least four people linked to the crime ring carried out a scheme across California to steal truckloads of merchandise, ranging from smart TVs and GE icemakers to SharkNinja vacuums and air fryers, the DOJ alleged.

“At present, Amazon is plagued by recurring thefts of its shipments, which is commonly referred to as ‘cargo theft,'” the complaint says.

Amazon has ramped up its efforts to track and shut down fraudulent, deceptive and illegal activities on its sprawling online store. Eliminating stolen goods is particularly challenging. CNBC reported in 2023 that Amazon suspended dozens of third-party merchants it alleged were selling stolen goods, though many of those sellers claimed they were unknowingly caught in the scheme, putting their businesses at risk of survival.

Amazon isn’t the only retailer afflicted by cargo theft. Experts told CNBC cargo theft-related losses are estimated at close to $1 billion or more a year.

In its complaint, the DOJ said the alleged fraudsters operated four transport carriers — AK Transportation, NBA Holdings, Belman Transport and Markos Transportation — that would obtain contracted freight routes from Amazon Relay, an application used by truckers to obtain work, also referred to as loads.

Each trucker is assigned a load for pickup from a manufacturer’s warehouse to be dropped off at an Amazon facility. Instead, the groups would divert from their designated routes, take a portion of the goods off the trucks and resell them or gift them to associates, prosecutors allege.

In some cases, the “self-styled carriers” would complete their deliveries at an Amazon warehouse several days after they were expected to show up, according to the complaint.

DOJ officials seized the alleged fraudsters’ iPhones and found photos and videos of warehouses lined with boxes of crockpots, Keurig coffee machines, keratin shampoo, Weber grills and other goods.

Amazon teams cooperated with DOJ officials in their investigation, including sharing information about the stolen goods, and details of the alleged fraudsters’ accounts on its online marketplace.

Representatives from Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

DOJ officials linked the defendants to a litany of other alleged crimes, including attempted murder, kidnapping, illegal firearm possession and health-care fraud. Several of the 13 defendants are expected to appear in a Los Angeles district court on Tuesday and Wednesday, while one of the defendants appeared in a court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Tuesday and was detained.

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