4 ms·
The actual scam here didn't play out, so NYTimes does not have the full story. What happens is they truck the load to a yard and open it up. The contents of th
by mike_d 3y ago
The actual scam here didn't play out, so NYTimes does not have the full story.
What happens is they truck the load to a yard and open it up. The contents of the trailer are then stolen and dumped into the gray market. If it has no value the load gets dumped into a storage facility and because the goods are accounted for law enforcement won't get involved.
The load was coming from Japan and probably insured for a lot of money, which ticked all the boxes that it would be electronics or household goods of some sort. They were probably shocked when it was just a brunch of weird flavors of candy they couldn't sell.
- closewith 3y ago> If it has no value the load gets dumped into a storage facility and because the goods are accounted for law enforcement won't get involved. That's an excellent insight and explains the big mystery. Thanks.
- jsnell 3y agoThat doesn't quite scan either. Avoiding interest from law enforcement could be a motive for returning the goods, but the moment they actually steal a shipment they're on the hook again. I think the idea only works if the vast majority of the hijacked containers are returned -- but that is an absurd idea.