RSS
Twitter
Scammers Run A Trucking Company With No Trucks
from the the-magic-of-computers dept
You have to admit that there are some creative scammers out there. Take, for example, a group of Russian immigrants, who used their hacking skills to effectively run a trucking company that didn't exist. They would hack into a Department of Transportation website that listed licensed trucking firms to change the contact info (temporarily) on certain firms to their own address and phone number. Then, they would go to another online site that listed cargo in need of transportation. They'd pose as the firm whose contact info they'd replaced, get the deal, and then go find another trucking firm to actually deliver the cargo. The cargo itself would get delivered, and the scammers would contact the original cargo owners to get paid. Then, the company that actually delivered the cargo would contact the company these scammers pretended to be working for, and discover that it had no clue what they were talking about. Apparently, this scam was effective enough to net the scammers over a half-million dollars. Of course, it wasn't effective enough to keep them from getting arrested.
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
I don't get this. People try to innovate with new business models and they get called scammers and stuck in the slammer?
Get a grip.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re:
I think the issue is that they effectively subcontracted the work (which is OK), but kept all of the money.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
I've always had a soft spot for scammers/con men. Whenever I hear of them getting caught and punished, it always feels like too harsh a punishment.
I know they make serious trouble for many people etc... but still. They're so cool.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
re
Idiots. How can you condone breaking the law? How would you like being the independent owner/operator that got stuck with the cost of delivering said goods.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: re
Sarcasm
---------
Your head
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
I disagree
As someone who has no part to play in the matter, it entertains to read about it and marvel at peoples cunning. I know it would suck to be at the receiving end, and I would feel different if I was, but I'm not, so I think its clever regardless of being illegal.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Supposing...
Supposing these people put that much time and energy into developing legit business models, they'd probably end up quite well off.....
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Supposing...
Seriously, these guys are probably smart enough to come up with a legitimate (only criminals use the word "legit", btw) business...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Supposing...
Supposing these people put that much time and energy into developing legit business models, they'd probably end up quite well off.....
and get sued for infringing on a vague patent on some business process?
nah, better to get in and get back out before the big time criminals and their lawyers show up.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re:
Or, you know, the whole hacking and fraud thing.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Very cunning, smart and cool. Kudos to law enforcement for reigning this criminals in but I still have to toast the bad guys from being cool.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re: Supposing...
MC Hammer sought for questioning.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Re: Re: Supposing...
Mr. MC you're being accused of hammering when it was indeed, not "time".
How do you plead?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Sounds To Me Like What US Businesses Do Every Day
Example: Guys need money to start up a business. They print and issue stock certificates. Sell stock on Wall Street to stupid people (mostly taxpayers). When the business fails, stockholders and retirees and employees lose. Businessmen don't lose, because they call up their buddy, George Bush, for a bailout with taxpayer money. Deal done. Bush prints money and gives it to his business buddies who promptly pay themselves hundreds of millions of dollars for the "risk" they took in starting the business. Bush sends bill for the bailout of his business buddies to taxpayers and their children. Oh, isn't Capitalism great?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Crime as a business model
Crime, in many ways is a "legit" business model. No matter the industry, it seeks to maximize profit and minimize expense.
The down side of course, (and the thing that keeps most people out of it) is that the potential profits seldom out weigh the penalties that will most certainly be imposed on a criminal level.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Crime as a business model
Crime, in many ways is a "legit" business model. No matter the industry, it seeks to maximize profit and minimize expense.
The down side of course, (and the thing that keeps most people out of it) is that the potential profits seldom out weigh the penalties that will most certainly be imposed on a criminal level.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Sounds To Me Like What US Businesses Do Every Day
What you are describing is not capitalism, and only demonstrated your ignorance of the issue at hand.
Sorry to burst your naive, socialist bubble.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Sounds To Me Like What US Businesses Do Every Day
Yeah. Capitalism breeds criminals. So much worse than the mass murderers Communism breeds. Or the "give a shit about anything" attitude of Socialism. You're so right.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Sounds To Me Like What US Businesses Do Every Day
Markie, what you have just described is not free market capitalism but Stalinist socialism.
I might suggest a bit of reading beyond Karl Marx' Communist Manifesto.
Maybe some Adam Smith, Ludwig von Mises, and a bit of Max Weber.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: I disagree
What I love about it (from an abstract sort of view) is that the cargo, which the scammers didn't care about at all, actually got delivered! It seems like the usual scam is to say I'll provide a service, get payment, then not provide the service. These guys actually provided the service, then got payment, and then screwed over the service provider. Clever indeed - and I'm glad they got caught too.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Hardly a new Biz Model
It's called a truckload brokerage firm and there are thousands of them out there and it is VERY competitive...
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
You can't touch him!!
You can't touch him!!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
as illegal as this is...speaking...
as illegal as this is...speaking of the fraud and hacking...you have to give these guys props for coming up with the whole thing.
as The i-Team said, Supposing these people put that much time and energy into developing legit business models, they'd probably end up quite well off.....
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: by Trucker
How is stealing the services of a company an innovative business model? I guess for the crooks, yah!
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment