Police Investigate Theft of Nearly Half a Million Dollars of Lobster in Massachusetts

Normally, when we hear about a theft where the value of what was taken is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, it is normally the theft of vehicles or jewelry.

That's one of the reasons why this story is kind of surprising.

Police are investigating the theft of about $400,000 worth of lobster!

According to an article on the KJ website, the theft happened in early December at a cold storage facility in Taunton, Massachusetts.

The article explains that the December 12th theft from Lineage Logistics is just the latest example of a growing problem in the transport industry.  High value cargo thefts are becoming more common, according to Dylan Rexing, whose Indiana based company was hired to haul the now missing lobster.

The experts say the theft was not random.  Thieves knew what they were stealing and had a plan in place to make sure the heist went smoothly.  The article explains that the lobster thieves used a classic logistics scam known as a fictitious pickup.  This included the use of spoofed emails, forged paperwork and a fake commercial driver’s license so that they could impersonate the trucking company and win the bid from Rexing and make the pickup from Taunton.

Rexing said his company believed it was working with a legitimate truck driver from a reputable third party carrier with a strong safety rating.  That driver was supposed to deliver the lobster shipment to Costco warehouses in Illinois and Minnesota.

For a midsized brokerage, a loss of about $400,000 is a big hit, Rexing said.  While the shipment was insured, the company is now being forced to invest in costly anti theft technology.  Those added expenses do not stop there. They move through the supply chain and eventually land on consumers.

The people who had the lobster stolen from them are now working with the FBI and the Transportation Intermediaries Association, a trade group pushing for industrywide protections against cargo theft.  TIA president Chris Burroughs says organized theft rings often target food and beverage shipments, including seafood.