Sentenced to daily prison sentence for stealing transportation fees through a cargo brokerage app

A group of people who deceived truck owners and stole a large amount of transportation money by offering high freight rates on a nationwide freight brokerage application was sentenced to prison.

Judge Lee Dong-ho of the Incheon District Court's Criminal Division 3 announced on the 28th that he sentenced A (55), a cargo transportation company operator indicted on charges of fraud, to 2 years and 4 months in prison and 1 year and 6 months in prison, respectively, in a separate trial.

In addition, Mr. B (62), a representative of a subcontractor who participated in the crime, was sentenced to 1 year and 10 months in prison, and Mr. C (46), a representative of another subcontractor, was sentenced to 1 year in prison, 2 years of probation, and 80 hours of community service.

They were indicted on charges of defrauding truck owners more than 1,500 times and stealing 470 million won in transportation fees through a nationwide freight transportation arrangement app at offices in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, from January to May 2023.

Mr. A has been operating an unlicensed cargo transportation company since June 2022 and received logistics transportation subcontracts, but in reality, he did not have any vehicles or personnel.

Accordingly, he collected a 4% commission from the main contractor under the pretense of carrying out paperwork and had his accomplices, including Mr. B, set up a ghost subcontracting company.

It was discovered that they later uploaded the subcontract to a cargo brokerage app in the name of a ghost company, offering a higher freight rate than the original contract price.

It was revealed that the truck owners who were affected were deceived by the high unit price and ultimately did not receive money even though they provided transportation.

When Mr. A's group was unable to pay the shipping fee and their cargo app dispatch authority was suspended, they continued their fraud by switching to a new ghost company's name.

Judge Lee explained, "The defendants established a sub-company in order to transfer the risk of non-payment of transportation due to 'deficit dispatch' to a sub-company and then requested cargo transportation in that company's name," adding, "The crime is very bad as they defrauded truck transporters across the country and defrauded them of the payment through this method."

He then stated the reason for the sentencing, saying, "Even though a considerable period of time has passed since the date of the crime, the victims have not forgiven him," and "Mr. A has a history of fraud of the same type, so he needs to be severely punished."