LAS VEGAS, May 9, 2002
Darcy Spears reporting
Las Vegas grows by about 5,000 new citizens every month. Most of them move here from other states, having hired a moving company to get their goods to town.
As News 3 Investigator Darcy Spears reports, some of those movers are trying to make off with your money in a shakedown scheme.
Authorities say it's a widespread scam that starts out with a low-ball estimate you usually get on the Internet. It ends up with a very high cash demand. Movers hold your belongings hostage and demand a ransom, leaving consumers boxed in.
Essie Cobbins, 69, is sleeping in a strange bed, but that's been a step up for her lately.
"I slept on the floor for six-weeks," says Essie.
Tyrone Kelley has been living in a nearly empty home for months.
"The truck pulled up in front of the house, and I was ecstatic to see it come and I was devastated to see it drive away," says Tyrone.
Both new Las Vegans hired their moving companies through websites where movers can bid online for your business. Both of them even got the price in writing.
To move Tyrone and his wife from Boston, the cost was $1,482. To move Essie from Kansas City, she was quoted $1,900. Essie paid a $500 deposit and should have owed only $1400 more upon delivery.
"I got a call from I guess the two drivers, that said they were here in Las Vegas with my belongings and it had been reported to them that if I gave them the $1,400 cash or credit card, they would at least let me have my bed to sleep on," says Essie.
All-American Moving and Storage demanded nearly $5,000 for all of Essie's stuff.
"They’re holding my furniture. It's just like they got your child and holding hostage for ransom," says Essie.
Tyrone Kelley’s movers, U.S. Movers and All-Star Moving and Transportation, made similar demands.
"They demanded triple the amount of the contract in cash and they were claiming that it was because the shipment weighed substantially more than what they had estimated," said Tyrone.
Federal law says that movers cannot charge more than 10 percent over any written estimate. Tyrone's movers wanted nearly $5,000 for a $1,400 move.
Federal authorities say that Tyrone and Essie are victims of a shakedown scheme where moving companies bait customers with low-ball estimates, then on moving day demand excessive cash payments.
Metro's fraud unit knows all about it. They are keeping this moving scam listed among the top scams they're currently following. Fraud detective Ky Degner says ransom demands have reached up to $11,000.
"I think it's horrible and my heart goes out to them, and that's why I called the DA's office to find out what can we do to help our citizens of Las Vegas, because it's reprehensible what these people are doing," says Ky Degner, Metro.
The District Attorney's office says there's not much they can do unless police can prove a pattern of fraud. The News 3 investigators have uncovered the fact that although Essie and Tyrone’s moving companies have different names, they're run by the same people.
The U.S. Department of Transportation suspects they're linked to the owners of five unlicensed moving companies in New York, who were recently arrested and charged under that state's Organized Crime Control Act for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.
"It’s definitely extortion... Racketeering... Whatever you want to call it," says Tyrone.
For months, Essie’s and Tyrone’s belongings have been held in storage by their movers. They won't tell Essie where her stuff is, but Tyrone found out that his is at the Ace Self-Storage on Rancho.
"As it turns out, this moving company was never properly licensed, insured and bonded. So they never had the legal right to even load my stuff onto a truck in the first place," says Tyrone.
The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration sent U.S. Movers a cease and desist letter to shut them down. They also told the storage company it was a hostage load after finding the company had used false weigh slips. Even so, Ace Regional Manager Dave Ratliff says he couldn't release Tyrone's stuff to its rightful owner.
Reporter: To a lot of people it might look like you guys are the bad guys for harboring stolen goods.
Ratliff: It's been real frustrating. The frustrating part for me has been that I have felt all along like we have been painted as the bad guy by people who weren't necessarily trying to understand our side of the story, which is, I’ve got this--I’ve got a rental agreement. I've got this contract.
For two and a half months, an Ace storage space is where the Kelleys' stuff lived, and it was only after they got police to serve a search warrant, that they were finally able to get their hostage items back.
Metro police found Tyrone’s belongings weighed 1,000 pounds less than what the movers claimed. A judge's order meant Tyrone got his property back.
But it wasn't as victorious as it sounds.
"The furniture was ripped up, broken into pieces. Anything that said 'glass' or 'fragile' has been crushed or kicked in," says Tyrone.
And as the News 3 Investgators learned, there's little anyone can do about it.
"We don't have jurisdiction over loss and damage claims, nor do we have enough resources to really put a stop to the majority of the fraudulent moving cases that are out there," said Dave Longo of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in a phone interview.
The movers are playing a different game with Essie. Although a search warrant led to Tyrone getting his stuff back without paying, Essie still has to come up with the original amount for her move, or a search warrant of her own.
"And now I gotta figure out some way to get $1,900," says Essie.
Essie only makes $1,000 a month and says she doesn't have the money anymore. Unless Metro acts fast, she faces losing her belongings at auction.
We spoke with Senator John Ensign's office about what Congress can do to empower federal authorities to enforce the law. A staffer said they're well aware that there's a hole in the law and have ordered a thorough staff review of the problem.
But they say it's a complicated issue and will take a long time to resolve. In the meantime, some citizens groups have popped up on the Internet to help victims who are boxed in by this moving shakedown scam.(www.movingadvocateteam.com, www.movingscam.com ).
If you'd like to help Essie Cobbins raise the money to get her belongings out of storage, here's a bank account number where she's accepting donations. U.S. Bank, Acct.# 253750119757.
- Link to the state regulatory agency for intrastate (within Nevada) movers.
Nevada Transportation Services Authority
Ted Pribnow
Chief of Enforcement
Transportation Services Authority
(702) 486-3303, ext. 404.
The TSA licenses and regulates tow companies, intrastate movers of household goods, and limousines statewide, as well as taxicab companies outside of Clark Co.
- Bank Account Info for Essie Cobbins Prince (for donations to help her get her stuff out of storage)
U.S. Bank
Acct.# 253750119757
She needs to raise $1500
- U.S. Department of Transportation (Nevada office)
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (regulator of interstate moves)
705 North Plaza Street, Ste. 220
Carson City, NV 89701
775-687-5335 (phone)
775-687-3803 (fax)
www.fhwa.dot.gov
- To check licensing status and insurance info. on your mover
http://fhwa-li.volpe.dot.gov/LIVIEW
- Click here to find out "Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move" http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/factsfigs/rights.htm
- Related Stories
- www.wnbc.com (WNBC New York)
"Movers Charged in Shakedown Scheme" - www.jsonline.com (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
"Movers Arrested After Owners Say Belongings Held Hostage" - www.sun-sentinel.com (Florida Sun-Sentinel)
"Florida Moves on Scam Artists" - www.queensda.org (Queens, NY District Attorney's Office)
"Owners of five unlicensed moving companies charged with racketeering in consumer shakedown scheme: allegedly demanded excessive cash payments on moving day and held household goods hostage for ransom when customers refused to pay."
- Links to consumer advocate sites and where you can view the "Black List"
www.movingadvocateteam.com
www.movingscam.com
- Note from Moving Advocate Team
"The above two links are to a coalition of consumer advocates and angry victims of an out-of-control moving industry. Though our stories differ in minor ways, the scam we all suffered when we moved our homes is the same. As a result of our common experience we have joined forces and concentrated our efforts on a three-part goal: to support others who have suffered the same experience with unscrupulous moving companies, to prevent this experience from happening to those who plan to hire a mover and last,
to push for regulation of the moving industry and strict enforcement of laws already on the books. You can view the result of some of our efforts by visiting the websites www.movingscam.com and www.movingadvocateteam.com. These websites are starting to be highly effective in getting our message out. We celebrate a small victory each time a potential customer of one of these companies e-mails us to say "thanks for the warning."
"Since Congress abolished the Interstate Commerce Commission in the mid 1990s, these scam moving companies have mushroomed and flourished in anunregulated environment. Consumers are getting swindled out of thousands of dollars on a daily basis. There are some weak regulations in place, overseen by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (part of the Department of Transportation) but when the ICC was abolished and its enforcement duties turned over to the DOT, Congress did not give the agency any extra man-power to handle the extra work. There are only four DOT agents in the entire country that investigate and handle consumer complaints against moving companies. The moving companies are well aware of this and continue to operate brazenly and with impunity. They change names and DOT numbers regularly, which makes it difficult to prosecute them and to bring civil lawsuits against them. Many of these movers are concentrated in south Florida and around New York but they have cooperating companies all over the country and they operate as a sort of mafia. We have reason to believe that they employ illegal immigrants but to date, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has shown no interest in pursuing this matter."
"These companies get their clients mainly from Internet web sites (moving company brokers). These sites let you enter in your basic moving information, and they send the information to the so called moving companies. Then the salespeople for these companies telephone and/or e-mail their estimates. The estimates are generally based on a price per cubic foot or per pound. These two measurements could be easily verified and the proper amount charged, but once the movers have all the goods on their truck and in their warehouse, they extort whatever amount they please and hold the goods hostage until the customer pays up. They almost always demand cash upon delivery of the household goods but the IRS is not interested in looking into this matter. In many cases, the movers charge more than triple or quadruple the original estimate. Often, the customer has to wait weeks or months for a delivery that was supposed to be made in a matter of days. At that point, the DOT can do nothing to help and a call to the police results in being told that it is a civil matter. When and if the goods are finally delivered, they are sometimes damaged beyond repair and many of the more valuable items are missing."
"Our coalition celebrates a modest victory in Florida's recent passage of HB-893. This bill would make it illegal to hold a customer's goods hostage. It would also be illegal to charge more than 10% above the original estimate. Florida probably passed this bill out of sheer embarrassment, since so many of the scam movers are concentrated there. But this bill only covers moves into, out of and within the state of Florida. The other forty-nine states need the same bill. The United States Congress, in its zeal to deregulate, needs to pay heed to the victimization of consumers all over the country."
Update: 03/24/03
Last Decemeber, we aired a story about the United States Post Office removing certain companies from their movers guide. One of those companies featured was Nationwide Movers. We talked to a local family about a problem they had with a company called Nationwide movers and the fact the Postal Service had terminated a contract with them.
We said one of Nationwide Movers operators was Aldo Disorbo. Disorbo is actually associated with a company called Nationwide Relocation Services.
Neither Disorbo or Nationwide Relocation Services had anything to do with the local family's problems. We regret the error. Nationwide Movers and Nationwide Relocation services are separate corporations with separate addresses, ICC numbers and have nor common officers or directors. We apologize for any confusion.
