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Connecticut Man to Be Sentenced for Bilking Amazon Logistics
Fake Carriers, Exploiting GPS Loophole at Heart of $3.5 Million Scheme
Key Takeaways:
- Ameer Nasir pleaded guilty to wire fraud after defrauding Amazon Logistics of more than $3.5 million through fake trailer movement claims.
- The scheme involved over 1,000 fraudulent assignments using fake or misappropriated trucking company accounts between 2019 and 2021.
- Nasir evaded Amazon’s GPS tracking system and faces sentencing Sept. 4 with up to 20 years in prison and restitution of $3.54 million.
A Connecticut man is awaiting sentencing in federal court for bilking $3.5 million from Amazon Logistics for 1,000 trailer movements that never happened.
Ameer Nasir, 25, of Trumbull, is slated to be sentenced Sept. 4 by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport, Conn., after pleading guilty in March to a single count of wire fraud.
The crime carries up to 20 years in prison. He also agreed to pay restitution of $3.54 million to Amazon. Last year, he was indicted on 13 counts of wire fraud and faced a maximum term for each charge.
Nasir’s cheating operation from December 2019 to February 2021 was outlined March 6 in a 15-page plea agreement between his federal public defender and the District of Connecticut’s U.S. Department of Justice office.
Exploiting 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 U.S. Attorney’s Office, Nasir signed up for more than 1,000 fraudulent transportation assignments with Amazon Logistics.
One key element in the scheme involved registering 23 trucking businesses with Amazon Logistics — fake companies, real ones and his own Pak Express Transport.
His company, formed in December 2019 as a general freight trucking firm, is listed as active. Pak Express is registered to a five-bedroom home with a 50-mile panoramic view from New York City to Long Island Sound. During the Revolutionary War, the hill was an American military lookout for British warships.
Nasir used carrier accounts to submit phony invoices to Amazon Logistics for middle-mile transportations he never did to fraudulently induce Amazon Logistics to pay him more than $3 million for phantom transportation services.
For some carrier accounts, he “misappropriated identifying information of trucking or transportation companies owned by others” who had no tie to him or the fraud. The identifying information sometimes included the names, addresses and/or unique U.S. Department of Transportation identification numbers.
Evading the Geofence
Nasir admitted to evading the Amazon Relay system trucking companies use electronically from computers and mobile devices to virtually accept individual trailer movement jobs, check out trailers at a pickup location and check in at drop-offs.
The system has an automatic “geofence” feature for trucking companies to locate trailers using GPS technology.
Nasir evaded the geofence by using a manual override to misrepresent that he completed trailer movements by checking in and out trailers at GPS locations as required.
For instance, he was paid $4,566 in May 2020 for a completed Pak Express Transport trailer movement from Washington state to Florida for services never rendered.
The indictment listed 13 counts in which Amazon Logistics paid for a phony trailer shipment. The lowest was $1,650 (Alabama to Pittsburgh), while the highest added up to $7,247 (Memphis, Tenn., to Spokane, Wash.).
The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from Amazon. Nasir was released on a $300,000 bond pending sentencing.
Amazon.com Inc. ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America.
