FBI Uncovers Major Theft Ring Involving Amazon Drivers

FBI Uncovers Major Theft Ring Involving Amazon Drivers

 

According to unsealed federal court documents, the FBI recently busted a massive theft ring in Washington.

Posing as pawn shops, the theft ring had reportedly sold at least $10 million worth of stolen goods on Amazon since 2013.

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The “pawn shops” allegedly bought items from shoplifters, among which were two drivers contracted by Amazon to transport returns and shipments.

One of the drivers, Abbas Zghair, was charged with murder in March and is currently being held on $2.5 million bail.

No charges have been filed as of now, but investigators have raided both the pawnshops and the home of the operation’s ringleader.

The FBI is currently waiting to receive records from Amazon to determine the full extent of the theft ring’s operations. According to Jon Riley, previous head of e-commerce user experience at Amazon, preventing the sale of stolen goods is one of Amazon’s biggest problems.

It's a little bit of an arms race for Amazon to be able to take in product, put it on the web and get it to their customers in a speedy fashion and not unwittingly sell stolen stuff at the same time.

According to USA Today, "Among those who provided stolen items to the pawnshops were two contract Amazon drivers, FBI agent Ariana Kroshinsky said. Their job was to travel to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, pick up items being returned to the company and then bring them to an Amazon warehouse south of Seattle, and to deliver items to post offices for shipping. Instead, they routinely stole the goods and sold them to the pawnshops."