Lt. Nathan McCreary of the Cobb Police Precinct 4 criminal investigations unit has sent out an alert today about a moving company scam that has claimed an East Cobb resident as a victim: 
A citizen hired a moving company to move his entire life’s possession to a different state. The moving company had a website and seemed reputable. Once they arrived at the home and packed the victim’s belongings, the truck left the location and never delivered the property.
The victim then received phone calls stating his property was being held ransom and he needed to pay a large sum of money in order to get his property back. Once this was reported to police, one of our amazing detectives, Det. S. Penirelli, began looking into the case.
She found that the FBI and DOT investigators are currently working similar cases involving a Russian Crime Group. She identified a suspect and found a storage company that had two units rented in the name of the suspect, who was of Russian descent. A search warrant was obtained and a portion of the victim’s property was located in a storage unit.
The same unit was scheduled to go up for auction for non-payment for the storage unit. The storage company was cooperative and allowed the property to remain at their secure location until the victim could arrange to have it removed.
Warrants were obtained for the suspect, but he is likely no longer in the state of Georgia. Detective Penirelli is currently working with the DOT investigators to find potential locations of the remaining property.
Police are also encouraging you to consult with the Better Business Bureau, which has moving scam resources. More also from the U.S. Justice Department about a recent case involving moving scammers.
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