Seafood thieves snatch $400,000 of lobster, plus oysters and crabs, in round of New England robberies

Forty thousand oysters, lobster worth $400,000 and a cache of crab meat were stolen in separate incidents within weeks of each other in New England.

The first seafood disappeared on November 22 in Falmouth, Maine, where authorities suspect someone stole 14 cages full of shellfish from an aquaculture site in Casco Bay. Many of the oysters were fully grown and ready for sale, and were worth $20,000 with the cages, according to the Maine Marine Patrol.

“This is a devastating situation for a small businessman,” said Marine Patrol Sgt. Matthew Sinclair.

The other two robberies occurred in Taunton, Massachusetts, about 160 miles (255 kilometers) away. First, a load of crabs disappeared after leaving the Lineage Logistics warehouse on December 2nd. Then, on December 12, lobster meat destined for Costco stores in Illinois and Minnesota was stolen by a fraudulent trucking company, according to the broker who arranged the transport.

“The moving company we hired impersonated a real moving company,” Dylan Rexing, CEO of Rexing Companies, said Tuesday. “They had a fake email address. They changed the name on the side of the truck. They presented a fake certified driver’s license. It’s a very sophisticated crime.”

Lineage Logistics, Costco and Taunton Police did not respond to requests for comment, but Rexing said police told him about the crab being stolen from the same warehouse.

This type of merchandise theft has been a problem for more than a decade, but has become worse in recent years, he said.

“It happens every day, several times a day,” he added.

Freight theft generally falls into two categories, said Chris Burrows, president and CEO of the Transportation Brokers Association, a trade organization for the freight brokerage industry. Lobster theft fits into the first type, which involves someone impersonating a legitimate trucking company. The second type, known as strategic theft, often involves using phishing emails to gain access to computer systems and obtain money without actually stealing the product.

“This is a huge growing problem that needs to be addressed,” he added.

Both said that because of their short shelf life, stolen lobster would likely end up in restaurants. While he’s seen a lot of joking about stealing butter to go with lobster, Rexing said such thefts ultimately hurt consumers.

“Whether you eat seafood or not, they steal other things. They steal the stuff that goes into building your cars. They steal the stuff that goes into computers,” he said. “Ultimately, that cost is passed on to the consumer.”