National moving company fraud ring affecting local families shut down

A national moving company fraud ring was shut down by the Department of Justice.

The DOJ said the scammers targeted people in 10 states, including Florida.

A Jacksonville family claimed they were one of more than 900 customers investigators said were victimized by the scheme.

RELATED STORY: Jacksonville family claims moving company is holding belongings hostage 

Action News Jax first introduced you to Wade Green on June 17 when he said Flagship Van Lines was holding his family's belongings for ransom.

“These folks are going around the country just preying on peoples trust and they’re taking advantage of folks,” Green said.

He said it took over a month for the items to be delivered.

“We didn’t think we were going to get our stuff back,” Green said. “I think it wasn’t until actually you guys’ news story broke that they actually started trying to get stuff back to folks.”

A federal grand jury indicted 12 individuals with conspiring in a racketeering enterprise to defraud individuals through their moving companies.

According to the indictment, the defendants operated and worked through a number of affiliated moving companies which include:

•    Flagship Van Lines 
•    First National Moving and Storage
•    Public Moving and Storage
•    Public Moving Services
•    Independent Van Lines
•    Smart Relocation Solutions
•    JBR Underground            
•    Trident Auto Shipping
•    National Relocation Van Lines    
•    Unified Van Lines
•    National Relocation Solutions
•    United National Moving and Storage
•    Presidential Moving Services      
•    U.S. Relocation Systems

The DOJ said the suspects carried out the scheme between April 2013 through July 2018.

Investigators said the workers lied to people about how long they had been in business and would create fake online reviews to get more customers.

The indictment said after loading customer’s items, the company bumped the price of the move and refused to return the items until customers paid the inflated prices.

According to the report, if customers did not pay, the defendants would allegedly, in some cases, steal the customers’ household goods and never deliver them.

“The arrests and actions taken today stemming from a criminal investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT-OIG) demonstrate our commitment to detecting and prosecuting fraudulent household goods movers who take advantage of unsuspecting customers by holding their personal belongings hostage for ransom,” said Thomas J. Ullom, DOT-OIG regional special agent-in-charge.

The suspects are charged with conspiring to conduct the affairs of the moving companies through a pattern of racketeering activity, consisting of multiple acts of wire fraud, theft of an interstate shipment by carrier, Hobbs Act extortion and identification fraud.

“I hope they all go to jail for a long time for what they’ve done to those people and us included,” Green said.

If you believe you are a victim of the scheme, you can call the Victim Hotline at 1-800-424-9071 or email hotline@oig.dot.gov.

RELATED STORY: Woman said she was scammed out of thousands by moving company

Cox Media Group