Amazon boxes are housed at a U.S. Postal Service facility in Fairfax, Virginia. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)
key takeaways:
- Amir Nasser pleaded guilty to wire fraud after defrauding Amazon Logistics of more than $3.5 million through fraudulent trailer movement claims.
- The scheme involved more than 1,000 fraudulent assignments using fake or misappropriated trucking company accounts between 2019 and 2021.
- Nasser evaded Amazon’s GPS tracking system and faces sentencing on September 4 with up to 20 years in prison and $3.54 million in restitution.
A Connecticut man awaits sentencing in federal court Billing of $3.5 million 1,000 from Amazon Logistics for a trailer movement that never happened.
Amir Nasir, 25, of Trumbull, will be sentenced Sept. 4 by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport, Conn., after pleading guilty in March to one count of wire fraud.
There is a provision of up to 20 years in jail for this crime. He also agreed to pay $3.54 million in compensation to Amazon. Last year, he was charged with 13 counts of wire fraud and faced the maximum sentence for each charge.
Nassar’s fraud campaign from December 2019 to February 2021 was outlined in a 15-page plea agreement reached March 6 between his federal public defender and the U.S. Department of Justice Office for the District of Connecticut.
Exploitation of the ‘middle mile’
He figured out how to game the system for Amazon Logistics’ “middle-mile” operations in which it contracts interstate trucking companies to move both empty and loaded trailers between cities, warehouses and fulfillment centers operated by Amazon Logistics and its Amazon parent.
According to the US Attorney’s Office, Nasser had signed up for more than 1,000 fraudulent transportation operations with Amazon Logistics.
A key element of the scheme involved registering 23 trucking businesses with Amazon Logistics – shell companies, real companies and his own Pak Express Transport.
His company, formed as a general freight trucking firm in December 2019, is listed as active. The Pak Express is registered to a five-bedroom home with a panoramic view of 50 miles of New York City to Long Island Sound. During the Revolutionary War, this hill was the American military’s watchtower for British warships.
While Nasser used carrier accounts to submit fake invoices to Amazon Logistics for middle-mile transportation he never did, he fraudulently induced Amazon Logistics to pay more than $3 million for phantom transportation services.
For some carrier accounts, he “misappropriated the identity information of trucking or transportation companies owned by others” that had no connection to him or the fraud. Identifying information sometimes includes names, addresses, and/or unique US Department of Transportation identification numbers.
bypass geofence
Nasser admitted to bypassing the Amazon Relay system, which trucking companies use to electronically accept individual trailer movement jobs from computers and mobile devices, check in trailers at the pickup location, and check-in at drop-off.
The system has an automated “geofence” feature for trucking companies to locate trailers using GPS technology.
Nasser used manual overrides to misrepresent the geofence that he carried out trailer movements by checking in and out of the trailers at GPS locations as required.
For example, for a full Pak Express Transport trailer movement from Washington state to Florida in May 2020, he was paid $4,566 for services never rendered.
The indictment lists 13 cases in which Amazon Logistics paid for fake trailer shipments. The lowest was $1,650 (Alabama to Pittsburgh), while the highest was $7,247 (Memphis, Tennessee, to Spokane, Washington).
The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from Amazon. Nasir was released on $300,000 bond pending sentencing.
Amazon.com Inc. Ranked No. 1 on Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America.
