FBI: Delivery drivers involved in Amazon theft ring

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Gene Johnson, Associated Press
Updated 11:13 pm CDT, Friday, August 2, 2019

SEATTLE (AP) — The two contract delivery drivers working for Amazon had a clear-cut assignment: They were supposed to bring packages from a warehouse south of Seattle to a post office for shipping, or sometimes drive to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to pick up items that were being returned to the company.

Instead, the FBI said in a search warrant affidavit unsealed last month, they routinely stole the items and sold them at pawn shops.

A police detective last summer noticed that one of the drivers had dozens of pawn shop transactions, and thus began an investigation that uncovered a theft ring that sold millions of dollars' worth of stolen goods on Amazon.com in the past six years, the FBI said.

According to the search warrant affidavit, two storefront businesses posing as pawn shops bought the goods from shoplifters, then had the items shipped to Amazon warehouses, where they were stored until sold online.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/FBI-Delivery-drivers-involved-in-Amazon-theft-14275126.php

[Devil Child]

1. The monster that is Amazon is now encroaching into pawn-shop fencing operations

Intentional or not, Amazon continues to creep into all aspects of life. Pretty cool read on how a marketplace like amazon being utilized for unlawful purposes.

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

No charges have yet been filed, though investigators have raided the pawn shops and the home of the man identified as the ringleader, Aleksandr Pavlovskiy, 44, of Auburn. Pavlovskiy's lawyer, Cristine Beckwith, did not return a message seeking comment.

The investigation began last summer when a police detective in Auburn, a south Seattle suburb, was perusing a record of pawn shop sales and noticed that one man had made 57 transactions. It turned out to be one of the drivers.

He had received nearly $30,000 selling items to the pawn shops between February and July last year, the affidavit said. Police initially arrested the driver, but released him from jail to avoid disrupting their larger investigation.

The other driver, identified as Abbas Zghair, was believed to be a roommate of the first. Amazon told investigators that Zghair stole about $100,000 worth of property, including gaming systems, sporting goods and computer products — items he sold to one of the pawn shops for less than $20,000, the agent wrote.

In an unrelated case, Zghair has been charged with murder after police said he shot and killed a man in an Auburn field in March, then fled to the Canadian border, where he was arrested trying to cross with a fake ID. He's being held on $2.5 million bail.

Both drivers worked for Amazon contractor JW Logistics, based in Frisco, Texas. It was unclear how long Zghair had worked for the company, but in 2015, he was convicted of reckless driving in Lewis County after leading police on a chase in excess of 100 mph (161 kph), running red lights, driving across multiple lanes of travel and crashing into a field.

[KT2000]

3. Thieves - breakins and shoplifting

some of them use ebay to sell their stolen goods. Technology is creating an anonymous world.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Money laundering

I saw a post on stocktwits last week said this was going to break big time for online etailers who are being used as fronts for money laundering. Cash buys massive amounts of stolen goods or excess inventory, then legitimizes it through online sales. Really squeezes out the little guy. etailers are happy because profits are good.

Crooks everywhere you look!

[MrModerate]

5. Great. Now Amazon is going to wreck brick-and-mortar fencing operations, too... n/t