Amazon Delivery Drivers Involved in $10 Million Theft Ring, FBI Says

Two contract delivery drivers who worked for Amazon were only supposed to run packages between an Amazon warehouse located in south Seattle, and bring them to the post office. Their duties occasionally required them to also go to the Seattle/Tacoma International Airport in order to pick up items that were being returned by customers. But federal investigators say the pair would regularly steal the items and sell them at local pawn shops as part of a scheme the FBI says was a major theft ring that sold millions of dollars' worth of stolen goods over the last six years.

According to the federal search warrant affidavit unsealed in U.S. District Court and obtained by the Associated Press, two business owners would pose as pawn shop owners and would routinely buy goods from shoplifters, then ship those items to an Amazon warehouse where they would be stored until they could be sold online.

According to the affidavit, entities associated with the theft ring rang up as much as $10 million in sales on Amazon since the ring began in 2013. Investigators say additional records are still pending from Amazon and that total could go up.

No charges have been filed, but investigators have raided the pawn shops named in the affidavit, as well as the home of the man identified as the ringleader of the operation, Aleksandr Pavlovskiy, 44 of Auburn, Washington. When a reporter from the AP went to one of the shops named in court documents, a man who identified himself as Alex said his business was legitimate and he kept good records, adding that he didn't believe he was in in any trouble.

Investigators learned of the alleged scheme after a police detective in Auburn was going through recent pawn shop sales receipts and noticed one person showed up 57 times. That person turned out to be one of the contracted delivery drivers, who allegedly received nearly $30,000 by selling items to the pawn shop between February and July last year.

Police arrested the driver, but eventually released him to avoid interfering with the larger investigation.

The second driver, identified in court documents as Abbas Zghair, who is believed to be the first driver's roommate, is alleged to have stolen around $100,000 worth of items that included gaming systems, and computer products. Zghair is also being held on an unrelated charge in which he allegedly shot and killed a man in an Auburn field last March. He was eventually arrested while attempting to cross the Canadian border using a fake ID.

The scheme involved shoplifters stealing items from big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes and Fred Meyer. The shoplifters would allegedly take the stolen items to the pawn shop to sell. The pawn shop would then ship the items to an Amazon "fulfillment center" where they were stored until being sold on Amazon's website. The sellers used the handles "Bestforyouall" or "Freeshipforyou" according to court documents.

More than $4.1 million was paid out to the sellers to the pawn shop, according to a review of the pawnshop's database.

Amazon has not yet commented on the matter.

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