Hijackers Stole a Delivery Truck After Hack, Spotlighting Uptick in Cargo Theft
Employees at Fifty Bar, a manufacturer of flavored smoking products, felt like something was off during a recent pickup of some of its products.
The pickup was initially scheduled to occur on a Saturday afternoon from the company’s California offices. But the usual driver stopped responding to texts about the shipment, so the collection was rescheduled for Monday morning.
That’s when a new driver showed up and handed the Fifty Bar team a bill of lading, a kind of receipt for shipped goods. Staffers were used to seeing a screenshot.
Either way, a truck full of e-liquids, bound for Austin, Texas, soon rolled away, apparently on schedule for a quick delivery.
The suspicions were confirmed a few days later, when Fifty Bar’s partner in Austin called to inform them that the 78,000 units of electronic cigarettes never arrived. Instead, an intended buyer reported receiving a phone call from a seller in New York City offering a suspiciously similar product at a lower price, according to Brady Bates, the chief executive officer and co-founder of the vape seller.
