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Meh, not necessarily. I used to be a truck driver (paid my way through college), and I know computer security well enough to execute some basic hacks, and I've

Meh, not necessarily. I used to be a truck driver (paid my way through college), and I know computer security well enough to execute some basic hacks, and I've read quite a bit about identity theft due to suspicion of an attempt made against me. I wouldn't say the right set of skills in a single person is common, but it certainly isn't so uncommon that it doesn't exist. The bigger clue that it is origanized is that they've stolen 370,000 lbs of it. That is a huge amount of warehousing and movement...no way it could be done by one person. I'd be willing to bet they're working with a mid-size walnut farmer or distributor who can "launder" the stolen goods fairly easily into something that can be wholesaled without being obviously tracked. The curious thing for me is that the trucks haven't been recovered. If I were doing this, I'd drop the trucks off at the side of a country road in the middle of nowhere. You can't really scam your way through a quick cash sale of a stolen tractor like you can with a Honda Accord, and driving it off to Mexico to be chopped adds a lot of risk to what seems like a relatively low risk operation.

maxerickson 9y ago
What are the odds they just drive a truck full of nuts to Mexico? According to https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop12015/ch2.htm https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop12015/ch2.htm there is random inspection on the US side for theft and then random customs in Mexico. Prior to the US starting theft inspections, an insider on the Mexico side would make it work pretty well. Another possibility is faking the identification and paperwork when picking up a shipment. Disappearing a fake truck is probably easier than disappearing a real one.
- saosebastiao 9y ago
  > What are the odds they just drive a truck full of nuts to Mexico? Not very likely, but certainly possible. I don't see the advantage though (could exist, but I just can't think of it). I've never seen US theft enforcement and Mexico doesn't have border controls like the US, but they do have traffic stop inspections and lead-based enforcement. Any box trailer can get stopped at any time and asked for customs documents and manifests. If you stay just within the Central Valley, you'll likely never get stopped, unless you're visibly overweight. And I'm not sure the market is there in Mexico...you'd probably end up re-exporting to the US where the documentation from the origin would have the same problem (how do we make it look like we grew this instead of stole it?).

maxerickson 9y ago

What are the odds they just drive a truck full of nuts to Mexico? According to https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop12015/ch2.htm https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop12015/ch2.htm there is random inspection on the US side for theft and then random customs in Mexico. Prior to the US starting theft inspections, an insider on the Mexico side would make it work pretty well. Another possibility is faking the identification and paperwork when picking up a shipment. Disappearing a fake truck is probably easier than disappearing a real one.

saosebastiao 9y ago
> What are the odds they just drive a truck full of nuts to Mexico? Not very likely, but certainly possible. I don't see the advantage though (could exist, but I just can't think of it). I've never seen US theft enforcement and Mexico doesn't have border controls like the US, but they do have traffic stop inspections and lead-based enforcement. Any box trailer can get stopped at any time and asked for customs documents and manifests. If you stay just within the Central Valley, you'll likely never get stopped, unless you're visibly overweight. And I'm not sure the market is there in Mexico...you'd probably end up re-exporting to the US where the documentation from the origin would have the same problem (how do we make it look like we grew this instead of stole it?).