The owner of a smoked salmon firm who lost tens of thousands of pounds in a similar scam to the one that defrauded Neal’s Yard Dairy has said authorities need to act against “high-end food fraud”.
Chris Swales immediately recognised the similarities when he heard how the London cheese specialist was scammed out of more than 22 tonnes of cheddar this month.
Neal’s Yard had delivered 950 wheels of cheddar – reported to be worth as much as £300,000 – to an alleged fraudster posing as a distributor for a major French retailer.
The cheese is believed to have been spirited away to Russia or the Middle East in a scam that bore similarities to the one which targeted Chapel and Swan Smokehouse in Exning, Suffolk.
The company owned by Swales was convinced to part with a substantial quantity of smoked salmon after an order was made by a man posing as a representative of a French supermarket.
Swales, who has supplied companies over the years ranging from Ocado to Abel & Cole and Sainsbury’s, said he had no reason to doubt what was a convincing prospective client with an impressive knowledge of fish and specialist food transportation.
The buyer – who gave his name as Patrick Moulin - ordered four metric tonnes of salmon, cut into 1kg portions, to be delivered in two batches 21 days apart.
It was only after a major UK haulage company picked up a first consignment and delivered it to a supposed hub in London ahead of its onward transportation to France that Swales began to realise that something was wrong. “Moulin” went back on his word and insisted he would pay for both orders together, before later disappearing from contact when questioned further.
Swales made his way to the supposed hub in London to find it was a yard with two battered shipping containers.
Swales got in touch with Neal’s Yard after reading about the company’s experience and said he had also spoken with another smoked salmon company in Scotland which had been hit by what appeared to be a similar scam.
“Clearly there is a lot of this going on, and by that I mean high-end food fraud,” he told the Guardian.
“The thing that I keep coming back to is: where is this going and how is it possible to get this stolen produce on to the market?
“Clearly this needs major planning and it feels like those behind it are people who know about food. It also needs people with experience and knowledge of how to transport and store food, as well as individuals at both ends of the ports being used, people to turn a blind eye and so on,” said Swales.
He has been particularly disappointed by the reaction of the authorities. Despite making a report on 11 October to Action Fraud, the national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, he has yet to receive a phone call or email. Action Fraud has been approached for comment.
“What I find most frustrating about this is that I’ve actually done much of the work that one would expect investigators to do. I’ve identified the delivery point. We know where the website is hosted – it’s in Lithuania – and we know where the server is, Vancouver. So it’s not really like they have to do anything other than get in a car and go to this garage in Walthamstow, say ‘ok, let’s see the CCTV’ and go from there,” he said.
“That said, the bottom line with all of this is not about brand or positioning, or high-end markets or posh diners. This is basically a smokehouse that pays for the livings of 12 people. That’s 12 families. If we haven’t got the money, then wages can’t go up and extra staff can’t be supported. It goes from there.”
