8 Charged With Faking Shippers’ IDs to Steal Meats, Cheeses, Copper and Cigarettes

Eight people have been charged with conspiring to impersonate shipping carriers in a multimillion dollar theft scheme that operated throughout the Northeast between October 2025 and April 2026.

The eight defendants allegedly stole nearly $5 million in goods from logistics sites in Pennsylvania, Virginia and New Jersey. They then allegedly diverted the stolen goods to New York City for sale on the black market.

In total, they allegedly committed six thefts and stole $165,000 worth of lamb; $432,000 worth of cheese; $295,000 worth of beef; more than $266,000 worth of copper; and more than $3.3 million of cigarettes.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., New York City Police Department Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, and Commissioner of the NYC Business Integrity Commission Asim Rehman announced the 21-page indictment that was filed in the state Supreme Court for New York County.

“We allege these defendants operated a wide-ranging and brazen, multimillion-dollar interstate retail theft conspiracy that impacted businesses and consumers around the country,” said District Attorney Bragg. “We believe that many small businesses were harmed by this theft, some of which may not be able to recover from their financial losses.”

The eight defendants allegedly fraudulently obtained shipment information of real shipping carriers and brokers, impersonated the legitimate companies as part of the scheme. They allegedly interacted with other criminal syndicates that conducted phishing scams to hack and steal the shipment information.

Officials explained that when manufacturers ship large quantities of goods, they use shipping brokers who advertise the job using an online platform. Shipping carriers will then make bids, and the winner gets the final shipment details from the broker.

The defendants in this case allegedly received the winning bids from hackers that coordinated with them. They would then allegedly lease tractor trucks and affix the name and registration number of the real shipping carrier that was supposed to make the pickup. They would then drive to the logistics center, pick up the goods and arrange the shipment into and through Manhattan.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

According to prosecutors, these are some of the incidents identified in documents filed in court:

• In November 2025, Nodir Kobilov allegedly drove a truck impersonating the carrier Z Mile Inc to pick up frozen lamb from a logistics center in Oldmans Township, New Jersey. He then met Murodullo Khasanov, who escorted and supervised the transportation of the stolen goods through Manhattan into the Bronx. The lamb was intended to be delivered to Minnesota and Wyoming.
• In December 2025, Shavkatbek Mamadjanov allegedly drove a truck impersonating Altex Logistics Inc, to pick up cheese totaling 25,395 pounds in net weight, including parmesan, pecorino and Manchego, from a logistics center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The cheese was intended to be delivered to Georgia. In this particular instance, the broker was a victim of a hacker and unknowingly sent the bid information to the hackers, who shared it with Murodullo Khasanov. He then coordinated and supervised the theft with Shavkatbek Mamadjanov.
• That same month, Rakhmiddin Abdullaev allegedly drove a truck impersonating Masters Trucking to pick up 39,600 pounds of beef in Darby Township, Pennsylvania. The beef was intended for Aurora, Colorado, but was instead diverted and transported into New York City. Similarly, the broker had unknowingly sent the bid information to a member of the criminal syndicate conducting the hacking, who eventually sent it to Murodullo Khasanov. He then coordinated and supervised the theft with Rakhmiddin Abdullaev.
• On two separate occasions in March 2026, under the supervision of Murodullo Khasanov, Dilshod Nabiev, Nizom Ismoilov and two other individuals allegedly drove trucks impersonating Preston Deliveries, LLC to CJ Logistics America in Colonial Heights, Virginia to pick up over $3.3 million in cigarettes, which were eventually brought to the Bronx through Manhattan. The cigarettes were intended for Tennessee and Florida. The stolen cigarettes were later recovered pursuant to a search warrant executed in the Bronx.

Prosecutors said they have reason to believe that there are other incidents and their investigation remains ongoing.

Bragg said the combination of sophisticated online hacking and large-scale theft is “deeply concerning and will only grow more prevalent, and we are using every tool available to stay ahead of this emerging trend.”

Cargo Theft Down for Quarter, But Criminals Are Getting More Savvy

A recent Verisk CargoNet report found while the number of supply chain thefts declined in the first quarter, the estimated losses have stayed the dame at about $131.6 million from the same period in 2025. CargoNet reported reduced activity from domestic criminal organizations, particularly in busy areas like Texas and the Southeast, combined with sustained or growing activity by organized crime groups in California and the New York City metropolitan area.

CargoNet said it expects impersonation-based fraud and the exploitation of legitimate carrier identities to remain central to cargo theft activity in the coming quarters.

In February, a New York man was arrested and charged for allegedly stealing 33,750 pounds of frozen snow crabs worth $325,000 from a warehouse in Worcester, Mass. Prior to the theft, a co-conspirator allegedly hacked into the email account of a trucking carrier company.

In a separate case reported in December 2025, a shipment of lobster meat worth $400,000 that was being held in a Taunton, Mass. cold storage facility was apparently stolen by a person posing as a truck driver for a legitimate freight carrier. Prior to that alleged heist, police reported that a shipment of crabmeat had been stole from the same storage facility 10 days earlier.