FTA is represented on a number of police and industry groups including JAGOLT (the Joint Action Group On Lorry Theft) and TruckWatch. This bulletin is circulated to members as part of our commitment to support the police in their work against lorry and load theft.

It would be appreciated if you would bring the following notices to your drivers’ attention, or to other members of staff as appropriate, when it is safe and convienient to do so.

Persistent attempts to obtain inside information foiled….

A major FTA member has been the subject of persistent telephone attempts by a criminal gang to obtain information on vehicle movements.

During the late evening of Wednesday 1 February several telephone calls were received at the member’s Reading depot from an individual claiming to work for them. The contact number given was a mobile phone. This individual was enquiring regarding an outbound load. He attempted to get information relating to the departure time, driver’s details, haulier used etc. Between 9-10pm the depot received a telephone call from someone claiming to be from an independent security company, enquiring if the depot had any security issues to report.

A supervisor immediately reported this incident to Reading police.

During the evening of Thursday 2 February similar telephone calls were received at the same member company’s East London branch. The caller claimed to be from a haulier and attempted to glean information on loads departing from the warehouse the next day. Similar telephone calls were then received at this haulier’s office, followed by further telephone calls to the FTA member, with the caller attempting to obtain managers’ names and mobile phone numbers. Finally a call was received from someone purporting to be a Metropolitan police officer who enquired as to the details of the incident there earlier that day. Questioned as to which event that might be and when asked for a landline number that he could be called back on, the caller stated that he was working from home….

….and again

Also last month an apparently innocent courier received a call requesting collection of some 120 high-value suits from a central London shop. On arrival at the premises staff said they were unaware of the stock movement and asked the driver to leave. At the same time the store received a call from a person who said he was from the local police station (he gave the name of an actual serving officer) and explained that the collection was all part of a deception planned to trap a gang of known villains, that the vehicle should be loaded and let go. They were further told that the load would be under constant surveillance until it arrived at the drop off point and would be secure.

Fortunately the shop didn’t release the goods, suits worth about £1,000 each, and so the attempt failed. But police think this gang will try again and warn fleet operators to be particularly careful.

As the above examples indicate, these cunning gangs are still extremely active. All staff must be briefed that under no circumstances should any information be divulged and any requests to divert loads must be treated with suspicion. All such incidents must be reported to local police or TruckPol (see below) and an appropriate manager in your company.

Suspect vehicle being used by criminals - Wakefield

During the evenings of Monday 30 and Tuesday 31 January, security guards at a distribution depot in Wakefield observed a white Astramax van, registration number Y729 JFG driving slowly past the site entrance - on one occasion not displaying any lights. At the time this vehicle was present, a DHL tractor unit had just entered the site to collect a loaded trailer. The DHL driver later reported that when he left the depot he was followed by the van. On the second evening the Astramax was parked in the road near to the site entrance. A security guard approached the van and challenged the occupants who then drove away.

The police have confirmed that this van is used by members of a Liverpool-based gang of criminals.

Other alerts

Attacks on depots and vehicle hijackings are all too frequently reported to FTA. The driver of a vehicle operated by a major parcels carrier was subjected to violence when the windows of his cab were smashed and his vehicle hijacked at Preston on Thursday 2 February.

We have also received a report from the West Mercia region that two instances of theft of emergency vehicle blue lights and two-tone horns have been reported. Drivers of vehicles should be reminded that not all cars that look like police cars may be genuine, and, if unsure, should remain in their cabs with the doors locked whilst alerting their depot.

For members in Central/Western Scotland

At about 9.10am on Saturday 11 February 2006 in the Erskine area of Renfrewshire, Strathclyde, an incident occurred involving a vehicle making a routine delivery run of parcels to various businesses in the West of Scotland.

The vehicle was stationary at a roundabout on an A class road when it was lightly struck from the rear by another vehicle, giving the impression of a rear end collision. The driver of the delivery vehicle, who was unaccompanied, complied with his company’s security instructions in such incidents and satisfied himself that it appeared to be a minor road accident: but when he made his way to the rear of the vehicle he was confronted by two male persons who had their faces covered.

A bladed instrument was presented at the driver and he was struck about the head with a blunt instrument, before being forced into the rear of his own vehicle. One of the males entered the vehicle and remained with the driver, whilst the vehicle was driven to an unknown location by another person. During this journey the assailants appeared to be in contact with other person(s) viaa radio. At this, as yet, unidentified location the delivery van contents were removed and the vehicle then driven to a further destination where it was abandoned. At about 11.30am a member of the public found the driver bound hand and foot within the rear of his vehicle.

It is believed that the vehicle involved in the original incident was similar to a white Citroen Berlingo van, which may have accident damage to the front. The assailants are described as three Asian type males with one having short dark dreadlock style hair.

If anyone can provide information to assist police please contact:

Inspector Fraser Murray
Strathclyde Police
Paisley
0141 532 5993
07940489673
Fraser.Murray@strathclyde.pnn.police.uk

For members in the West Midlands

At approximately 7.30am on 22 February a Scania artic EU04 UZK and curtainsided trailer was travelling from J10, M6 towards Wolverhampton on the A454, the Black Country route.

The driver was aware of two or maybe three vehicles, two of which he describes as (1) a black Mitsubishi (or similar) pick-up, possibly on an 04 plate, and (2) a large green BMW saloon (5 or 7 series). The three vehicles boxed him in on the main dual carriageway causing him to stop. The driver was attacked and vehicle stolen, but thanks to a tracker device fitted to the unit the whole combination was recovered with load intact about ten minutes after the offence.

Load diversions

There has been a recent increase in the number of attempted load diversions occurring throughout the UK. If you have had any such attempt within the last two months, please can you e-mail the details to ArunChandra.Bose@met.police.uk

Can members please also include any details of the police response when a load has successfully been intercepted. Nearly all loads have been diverted to the Canning Town/East London area.

The suspects are very convincing on the phone, and will make dozens of calls to all parts of the distribution network in order to obtain relevant information when they target a load. They will use names of people working at the associated companies, and will even pretend to be police officers to obtain intelligence around shipments.

Police advice is as follows:

• instruct all drivers never to divert from their given destination, regardless of any phone calls they receive
• any re-routeing of loads should have e-mail confirmation and/or fax details
• any ‘emergency’ or ‘faulty’ loads to be collected from a warehouse should be confirmed electronically before release is authorised
• request that any caller alleging to be a police officer and enquiring about a load should send an e-mail before you respond to them

Credit card scam

Most of your company employees are likely to carry credit cards. The following item will help you understand how a VISA and MasterCard scam works and how to protect yourself and others. Note that the caller does not ask for your card number, he/she already has it….

‘One of our employees was called on Wednesday from VISA and I was called on Thursday from MasterCard.

The scam works like this: the person calling says, "This is (name), and I'm calling from the Security and Fraud department at VISA. My badge number is (series of numbers). Your card has been flagged for an unusual purchase pattern, and I'm calling to verify. This would be on your VISA card that was issued by (name of bank). Did you purchase an anti-telemarketing device for £249.99 from a marketing company based in (name of any town)?"

When you say "no" the caller continues with, "then we will be issuing a credit to your account. This is a company we have been watching and the charges range from £150 to £249, just under the £250 purchase pattern that alerts most card companies. Before your next statement, the credit will be sent to (gives you your address), is that correct?"

You say "yes". The caller continues, "I will be starting a fraud investigation. If you have any questions, you should call the 0800 number listed on the back of your card and ask for Security. You will need to refer to this control number. The caller then gives you a 6 digit number. "Do you need me to read it again?"

Here's the IMPORTANT part on how the scam works. The caller then says, "I need to verify you are in possession of your card". He'll ask you to "turn your card over and look for some numbers". There are 7 numbers; the first 4 are part of your card number, the next 3 are the security numbers that verify you are the possessor of the card. These are the numbers you sometimes use to make internet purchases to prove you have the card. The caller will ask you to read the 3 numbers to him.

After you tell the caller the 3 numbers, he'll say, "That is correct, I just needed to verify that the card has not been lost or stolen, and that you still have your card. Do you have any other questions?" After you say no, the caller then thanks you, says "Don't hesitate to call back, if you need to", and hangs up.

You actually say very little, and they never ask for or tell you the card number. But after we were called on Wednesday, we called back within 20 minutes to ask a question. The genuine VISA Security department told us it was a scam and in the last 15 minutes a new purchase of £249.99 had been charged to our card.

What the scammers want is the 3-digit PIN number on the back of the card. Don't give it to them. Instead, tell them you'll call VISA or MasterCard directly for verification of the conversation. The real VISA told us that they will never ask for anything on the card as they already know the information since they issued the card! If you give out the 3 Digit PIN you think you're receiving a credit but you are actually making the fraud possible for them. By the time you get your monthly statement you'll see charges for purchases you didn't make, and by then it's almost too late and/or more difficult to actually file a fraud report.

What makes this more remarkable is that the following day, I got a call from a "Jason Richardson of MasterCard" with a word-for-word repeat of the VISA scam! Hang up and immediately file a police report, as instructed by VISA. The police say they are taking several of these reports daily!’’

Pass it on……..

Fag end

We have been asked to publicise the following details in an attempt to identify a large quantity of Sovereign black king size cigarettes that have been seized in France. They were produced in July 2003 and are of UK spec. The interesting thing is that they appear to have UK picking labels on them and beloware the details on that label.

The feeling is that they were stolen in the UK and for some reason taken to France. They were on their way back.

They were part of a huge warehouse seizure of over 19 million cigarettes by French Customs. Some, if not all, the other cigarettes appear to be counterfeit. The mixture of real, counterfeit and stolen cigarettes in the circumstances they were found in is not unusual. Can you assist?

Thereare white labels stuck on each outer wrapping with the following details :

If anyone has information regarding the items in this Theft Alert you can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 as well as the contact numbers given above.

Other contacts

TRUCKWATCH
Some areas of the UK operate TruckWatch schemes, whereby companies in a local area undertake to watch out for each other if one of the group members reports a vehicle stolen. To find out whether a scheme operates in your area contact your local police station.

TRUCKPOL
TruckPol is the nationwide police intelligence service which records information on all aspects of road freight crime. By submitting information to TruckPol you could be helping to solve a serious crime in our industry.
Tel: 0207 230 7775
Fax: 0207 230 7774
Email: truckpol@met.pnn.police.uk

OPERATION INDICATE
Operation Indicate is a regional initiative based at Wednesbury police station which aims to reduce the number of victims of road freight crime across the Midlands. Forces involved are West Midlands, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and West Mercia, supported by the National Criminal Intelligence Service and Central Police Motorway Group.
Tel: 0121 626 9121
Fax: 0121 626 9100

FTA
If you would prefer us to make contact with the police on your behalf, FTA’s manager of lorry and load theft issues is Donald Armour.
Tel: 01892 55 22 61
Fax: 01892 534 989
Email: darmour@fta.co.uk