Fraud type · Smuggling
Smuggling in your load: the cloned shipper using you as cover
This customer pays fast, does not haggle and has a well-known company name. That is exactly why nobody looks further. Until customs opens the container.
How it works
In this fraud the criminal does not want your money, but your service. He books a container, trailer or shipment in the name of an existing, reliable company. The real company name is on the papers. In reality it is a clone: a new email address, a mobile or internet number and no visibility online. See also Spotting a clone company.
The shipment is used to move illegal goods, hidden among or inside a legal load. If it goes wrong, the real company's name is on the papers, and your company arranged the transport.
Why creditworthiness tells you nothing here
The cloned shipper usually pays in advance or very quickly. There is no payment risk, so alarm bells stay silent. But the question here is not can this customer pay? It is: who is really behind this shipment?
What it can cost you
- A detained or seized container, with delays and costs.
- A criminal investigation in which your company must explain what it knew and checked.
- Damage to your name with customs, shipping lines and customers.
- In the worst case, drivers or staff unwittingly drawn into a smuggling case.
10 red flags
- The email domain is much younger than the company,for example a few weeks old for a twenty-year-old business.
- Contact details are not in the registernor on the company's official website.
- Only a mobile or internet numberand no landline to call back.
- The loading address does not belong to the company:a home, a small unit or a shared building.
- The goods do not fit the company's activityas stated in the register.
- Payment comes from a third partyor from an account in another country.
- The EORI number was only just activatedwhile the company has existed for years.
- No video call or visit possibleand always a reason why not.
- The customer pays strikingly fast without negotiating,even for extra costs.
- Unusual routes or destinations,or a shipment routed via a third country.
One red flag is not proof. If you see two or more, stop and check further first.
Checklist: how to vet a new shipper
- Look the company up in the official register and note address, activity and directors.
- Call the number from the register and ask whether this person works there and whether they book this shipment.
- Compare the email domain with the official website and check how old the domain is.
- Check that the loading address belongs to the company or demonstrably to a known partner such as a recognised warehouse.
- Check the EORI number and whether the goods fit the company's activity.
- Accept payment only from an account in the company's name, not from third parties.
- Ask for a short video call with the contact, preferably from the office.
What to do if it goes wrong
- Don't trust the shipment? Do not load it or let it leave, and contact customs or the police.
- Warn the real company that its name is being used.
- Do not touch suspicious goods yourself and do not release them to the customer.
- Record everything: emails, documents, payments and who delivered the shipment.
Let Safetybizz check it
Safetybizz puts your new customer's details next to the register: domain and domain age, phone, address, EORI, payer and directors. A cloned shipper stands out before the container is booked.
See SafetyBizzFrequently asked questions
What is a cloned shipper?
A criminal booking transport in the name of an existing company, with his own contact details, to move illegal goods. If it comes out, the real company's name is on the papers.
Why do smugglers pay so neatly?
Because they want no attention. A customer who pays quickly gets checked less. They are not after your money, but your service.
Am I liable if contraband is found in a shipment?
That depends on the circumstances and on what you knew and checked. That is why it matters to record your checks. Seek legal advice if in doubt.
Read also
This page is general information and not legal advice.