Man Arrested for Coordinated Cargo Theft Involving Snow Crab, Blueberries, and Cologne
A New York man has been arrested and charged for allegedly conspiring to use hacked email accounts of legitimate truck-load carriers to book cargo with shippers, subsequently selling the items for illicit profit.
Forbes was taken into custody on February 5 in Long Island, N.Y., and is set to make his initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York. He will later appear in federal court in Boston.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent with the Boston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It is important to note that the details contained in the charging documents are allegations, and Forbes is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
According to the charging documents, on July 15, 2025, Forbes allegedly stole 33,750 pounds of frozen snow crabs valued at $325,000 from a warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. Prior to this theft, a co-conspirator allegedly hacked into the email account of a trucking carrier company.
The co-conspirator, posing as an employee of the carrier and using the hacked email account, allegedly contracted with a transportation business to ship the goods to a customer in Jacksonville, Florida.
Forbes then allegedly arrived at the Worcester warehouse, pretending to work for the carrier, loaded the seafood into his truck, and drove away.
Instead of delivering the seafood to the customer in Florida, prosecutors claim that Forbes transported it to a grocery store in Queens, New York, where he took a picture of the pallets of packaged crabs with his cellphone.
Prior to the alleged seafood heist, Forbes, following similar procedures and working with a co-conspirator, reportedly stole a shipment of blueberries in Winslow Junction, New Jersey, in June. A month later, he allegedly stole approximately $433,830 worth of cologne in Ronkonkama, New York.
Prosecutors further allege that instead of delivering the blueberries to the purported customer in Illinois, Forbes arranged to sell the fruit illicitly to a contact he referred to as “My customer for everything.”
Similarly, instead of delivering the fragrances to a supposed customer in California, Forbes allegedly contacted his “customer for everything” to offer the cologne, even sending a video of the product, to which the contact responded, “Ok.”
Top Photo: U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts supplied photo of alleged cargo theft operation.
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A New York man has been arrested and charged for allegedly conspiring to use hacked email accounts of legitimate truck-load carriers to book cargo with shippers, subsequently selling the items for illicit profit.
Forbes was taken into custody on February 5 in Long Island, N.Y., and is set to make his initial appearance in the Eastern District of New York. He will later appear in federal court in Boston.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah B. Foley and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent with the Boston office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It is important to note that the details contained in the charging documents are allegations, and Forbes is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
According to the charging documents, on July 15, 2025, Forbes allegedly stole 33,750 pounds of frozen snow crabs valued at $325,000 from a warehouse in Worcester, Massachusetts. Prior to this theft, a co-conspirator allegedly hacked into the email account of a trucking carrier company.
The co-conspirator, posing as an employee of the carrier and using the hacked email account, allegedly contracted with a transportation business to ship the goods to a customer in Jacksonville, Florida.
Forbes then allegedly arrived at the Worcester warehouse, pretending to work for the carrier, loaded the seafood into his truck, and drove away.
Instead of delivering the seafood to the customer in Florida, prosecutors claim that Forbes transported it to a grocery store in Queens, New York, where he took a picture of the pallets of packaged crabs with his cellphone.
Prior to the alleged seafood heist, Forbes, following similar procedures and working with a co-conspirator, reportedly stole a shipment of blueberries in Winslow Junction, New Jersey, in June. A month later, he allegedly stole approximately $433,830 worth of cologne in Ronkonkama, New York.
Prosecutors further allege that instead of delivering the blueberries to the purported customer in Illinois, Forbes arranged to sell the fruit illicitly to a contact he referred to as “My customer for everything.”
Similarly, instead of delivering the fragrances to a supposed customer in California, Forbes allegedly contacted his “customer for everything” to offer the cologne, even sending a video of the product, to which the contact responded, “Ok.”
Top Photo: U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts supplied photo of alleged cargo theft operation.
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