TAG | moving
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Police shut down moving company, arrest owners
0 Comments | Posted by Singapore Movers in Movers in Singapore, Singapore Mover, Singapore Movers, Singapore Moving
Desi Movers and its 18 aliases are currently out of business.
Their trucks have been impounded, their offices raided and their owners arrested.
Syed Altaf Hussain, the 57-year-old Scarborough businessman behind the complaint-plagued moving company spent last night in police custody while his two sons, four of his drivers and their dispatcher sat in cells nearby.
Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of a fifth driver connected with the company.
In total, they face 160 charges including numerous counts of fraud under $5,000, extortion, possession of proceeds of crime and mischief.
The arrests are the culmination of “Project Overhaul” — a three-month investigation led by Toronto police Det. Kevin Hooper who said “this is the beginning of the end” of an alleged criminal enterprise that posed as a moving company for the last eight years.
A Toronto Star investigation first drew public attention to Desi Movers and its various aliases in August 2008. The complaints uncovered by the Star mirror those that led two dozen police officers to descend on the company’s Scarborough business address and on the residences of its principals Thursday morning.
In its investigation, the Star found more than 30 people alleged they were taken advantage of by the movers.
The Star also discovered that the company changed its name in order to distance itself from the complaints. But with every new name came new complaints and they all sounded the same.
The movers would quote a very low cost to clients who responded to their ads in local newspapers or on the internet.
The company would ask for a deposit up front, then, halfway through the job, it was alleged would double or even triple the costs. If a client refused to pay the increase, the company would allegedly threaten to hold their belongings in a company storage locker.
One client, Chris Brown, was told it would cost $500 to move 200 metres from one Port Credit apartment to the other. But once the truck was loaded the price jumped to $1,500.
“All of my worldly possessions were on their truck, right down to my toothbrush,” said Brown. “I felt I was being ransomed just to get it all back.”
Toronto police fraud detectives issued a public warning about Desi Movers and one of its aliases, Indo-Pak Movers, last November. At that time, police said they were investigating 17 complaints against the companies.
Hooper inherited that investigation in February and said he has since spoken to 15 people with complaints in 2010 alone.
In one recent case, Hooper said, a Haitian couple was allegedly forced to go to an ATM machine and withdraw their last dollar to pay for the rising costs involved with what was supposed to be a $300 move. Police said the movers then jettisoned the couple’s belongings onto the street and drove away.
In the Star’s investigation, many victims said they had been frustrated by police inaction during their moves. In some cases, victims called police who showed up during the moves but did not intervene because the company’s contract stated — in small print — that excess charges might apply.
“At face value it looks like a civil dispute,” Const. Tony Vella said Thursday of the initial inaction. “But it’s a lot more complicated than that.”
Police now say customers were subjected to bully tactics to hand over money.
Police say they receive numerous complaints about a number of moving companies in the city.
“We focused on one particular crew and it all started with the dad,” Hooper said of the investigation into Desi Movers.
Police allege that the father — Syed Altaf Hussain — trained his two sons, who branched out and operated their own numbered companies but always out of the same address.
That Munham Gate address near Birchmount and Ellesmere Rds. was empty Thursday afternoon. The sign above the door was half torn down.
It was there in 2008 that a Star reporter first met Arif Adnan Syed, Hussain’s 27-year-old son and owner of 13 of the company’s 19 aliases.
Syed said none of the companies were related and advised the reporter to get off his property or “there will be trouble.”
The Star returned to the company’s headquarters shortly after its initial investigation was published and watched as Hussain instructed his drivers to paint over the Desi Movers signage on the side of their trucks.
The Star last spoke with Syed in November after police issued a public warning about the company. At that time he said: “The main problem isn’t me, it’s the public. It doesn’t matter whatever you publish, people are so cheap.
“If I change my name today and put $2 less on the hourly rate they will still come to me.”
Syed was arrested at his home on Beckinridge Dr. in Markham Thursday morning. Police have since impounded his 2004 Audi.
Hussain was arrested at his subsidized housing residence on Kennedy Rd. His 2001 Mercedes-Benz has also been impounded.
Police have also seized 13 moving trucks belonging to the company and more than $20,000 in cash.
Police allege the accused were netting a profit of $1 million a year, yet some were still claiming welfare.
Charged are Syed Altaf Hussain, 57, owner of Elizabeth Movers, Comfortable Movers and Masters Movers and Storage. Also charged are Hussain’s sons Arif Adnan Syed, 27, (owner of Desi Movers, Dynamic Movers, Dynamite Movers, Family Movers, Indo-Pak Movers, Master Movers, Supreme Movers, and Pacific Van Lines Moving Inc., etc.) and Syed Amit Monwar Hussain, 29, (owner of Xpress Movers and A1 Xpress Moving Inc.). The companies’ dispatcher, Vanessa Longhurst, 38, has also been charged as have four of the companies’ drivers: Syed Tamim Rejw Hussain, 25, Clyde Alen Muffty, 34, Scott Paul Slater, 31, and Joseph Lima, 22.
Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of a fifth driver, Jimmy Roland Veilleux, 35.
The accused are scheduled to appear at College Park courthouse Friday morning.
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Nine arrested in moving-company scheme
0 Comments | Posted by Singapore Movers in Singapore Movers, Singapore Moving
Leslie Nye had scoured online classified sites for a cheap, efficient, reliable mover and thought she’d hit the jackpot with one Toronto-based company.
Master Movers, she said, promised a seamless job done for just $500, a price that included insurance and a $180 flat fee to cover gas for the move from Toronto to London, Ont., where her husband, Steve Blakeney, lived.
Perfect, Ms. Nye thought.
The experience on moving day was anything but, she said. As soon as the movers arrived on Dec. 13, 2009, (half an hour late, she said), out popped all kinds of hidden costs – $30 for each time a mover carried an item down the stairs, she said. Then, she added, they charged extra for insurance and wouldn’t reconnect the couple with the person who had given them the original quote.
“At that point my husband turned to me and said ‘I think we’re going to be screwed.’ ”
When all of their items had been locked in the truck, she said the movers demanded about $1,460.
The company is among 11 named in a massive Toronto Police crackdown on moving companies in the Greater Toronto Area.
Early Thursday morning, police executed raids on homes and businesses they had targeted in a lengthy investigation into schemes in which movers allegedly defrauded clients and often held their belongings hostage.
They arrested eight men and one woman who face a total of 160 charges, many of them related to fraud.
During the raids, police seized 13 moving trucks, $20,000 in cash and two vehicles, including a 2004 Audi and 2001 Mercedes Benz.
Police are still hoping to arrest one man who had been in contact with authorities but refused to turn himself in, said Constable Tony Vella.
Companies allegedly involved are Indo-Pak Movers, Desi Movers, Supreme Movers, Comfortable Movers, Dynamic Movers, Elizabeth Movers, Pacific Van Line Moving Inc., Master Movers, A1 Express Movers and Xpress Movers, police say.
Calls and e-mails to Master Movers were not returned Thursday night.
In March, Toronto Police warned consumers to watch for companies that first quote a very low price, then have the client sign a contract on the day of the move.
If the client refuses to pay more, police said movers threaten to hold their belongings in storage or dump them in the street.
Ms. Nye said she was able to haggle the moving company down to about $1,300. After agreeing on that amount, she said the movers followed the couple in their truck as they got the money from the bank. Then the couple followed the moving truck to their home in London – just to make sure it arrived.
“The conversation between my husband and I on our way to London was ‘What can we do? They’ve got our stuff, they’ve got our money. We’re screwed,’ ” she said.
They reported it to police only on Thursday when they learned about the investigation, she said.
Many people don’t report being defrauded, said Constable Vella, because they’re embarrassed to not have heeded any red flags.
Ms. Nye said the whole experience made her feel “very stupid and naive.”
Charged are Syed Altaf Hussain, 57, Arif Adnan Syed, 27, Syed Amit Monwar Hussain, 29, Clyde Alen Muffty, 34, Scott Paul Slater, 31, Vanessa Longhurst, 38, Joseph Lima, 22, and Syed Tamim Rejw Hussain, 25, all residents of the Toronto area. Jimmy Roland Veilleux, 35, of Toronto, is wanted on fraud charges.
Police believe there may be more victims.
24
Movers face charges for alleged fraud
0 Comments | Posted by Singapore Movers in Singapore Mover, Singapore Movers
Eight men and a woman are facing 160 charges in an alleged moving-company scam in which customers were told their possessions would be held for ransom or thrown off the truck if they did not pay additional fees, police say.
The group used such aggressive tactics that an elderly customer suffered a panic attack and collapsed, was taken to hospital and had her possessions dumped in a parking lot, where they were damaged by rain, police said.
As a result of an investigation dubbed “Project Overhaul,” which was sparked by a series of complaints in February, police have seized 13 moving trucks, a 2004 Audi, a 2001 Mercedes Benz and $20,000 in cash.
Police allege the moving company changed its name and created clone companies to avoid detection.
“Victims reported locating the companies in local newspapers or online classified ads on websites like Craigslist and Kiiji,” Staff Sergeant Blair Davey of 55 Division said.
The companies allegedly involved are: Indo-Pak Movers, Desi Movers, Supreme Movers, Comfortable Movers, Dynamic Movers, Dynamite Movers, Elizabeth Movers, Pacific Van Line Moving Inc., Master Movers, A1 Express Movers and Xpress Movers.
24
Toronto cops charge movers with fraud
0 Comments | Posted by Singapore Movers in Movers in Singapore
Eight men and one woman have been arrested in Toronto and charged with fraud after police busted an allegedly fraudulent moving company.
Police say the victims made arrangements with one of several moving companies to shift their furniture. They allege the suspects held their goods hostage, or threatened to throw them onto the road, unless they were paid extra.
On Thursday Toronto police said they had seized 13 moving trucks, $20,000 in cash and two vehicles in connection with their investigation.
Syed Altaf Hussain, 57, of Toronto, Arif Adnan Syed, 27, of Markham, Syed Amit Monwar Hussain, 29, of Toronto, Clyde Alen Muffty, 34, of Toronto, Scott Paul Slater, 31, of Toronto, Vanessa Longhurst, 38, of Toronto, Joseph Lima, 22, of Toronto, Syed Tamim Rejw Hussain, 25, of Toronto and Jimmy Roland Veilleux, 35, of Toronto have all been charged with fraud.
Police say the various moving companies operated by the group took in as much as $1 million per year.
Supt. Sam Fernandes said the movers would simply quote consumers a low price then, once they had their furniture on the truck, they would demand extra payments – up to $2,500. If the customer didn’t pay up they movers withheld their furniture, or even dumped it on the road.
“It was a nightmare,” said Miriam Goodger who was victimized by the movers two weeks ago.
“They came to my house and told me it would cost $350 to move. It ended up costing $1,237 – and I had to move all my belongings in the rain, by myself, up 12 flights of stairs,” she said.
The arrests are a result of a five-month investigation.
Police believe there are more victims.
