Police in Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, are investigating the theft of around AUD 30,000 (USD 22, 319, EUR 19,794) worth of seafood in a scam targeting wholesalers.
According to the police report, Point Cartwright Seafoods and other businesses in Mooloolaba, Capalaba and Warana were scammed out of large amounts of lobster tails, prawns, and scallops.
“Initial investigations indicate scammers placed large orders, then provided doctored bank statements showing payments had been transferred,” said Sunshine Coast Police in a statement.
The seafood was picked up by an unidentified man and woman between 19 May and 20 May, before the wholesalers checked their accounts to reveal that no payments had been made.
Point Cartwright Seafoods Manager Michael Thomas told Coastal Queensland News that he thought he was supplying a business that had been let down by another supplier and needed a large, last-minute order. The business was scammed out of more than AUD 7,000 (USD 5,209, EUR 4,619) worth of seafood.
"Because we're based on the Sunshine Coast, we do get a few wholesale inquiries from people that we've never dealt with before because another company may have let them down," Thomas said. "We're not a long way from Brisbane and on weekends freight is a major issue for weddings and major events, so we do get this (late orders) a bit."
The scammers used a refrigerated vehicle rented from Brisbane using a Chinese driver’s license.
"Their motive is unknown at the moment, but certainly it could have been on-sold or it could have been used in restaurants," Sunshine Coast CIB officer-in-charge Daren Edwards, told Coastal Queensland News.
Sunshine Coast Police urged other businesses that were scammed out of seafood or were approached to buy seafood at discounted price to contact them.
”We believe there might be other seafood businesses that have had these attempts to defraud them as well; but, perhaps because the transfers had not occurred, they didn't release the seafood," Edwards said.
