The International Transport Intermediaries Club is warning that human traffickers are exploiting the crew change crisis in order to smuggle illegal immigrants through ports.
As the ITIC reports, human traffickers are scamming ship agents by impersonating shipping company employees and making arrangements for a “crew change.”
With this scam, the trafficker approaches an agent, asking them to handle a change of crew, including booking travel and lodging.
The trffickers do this as by operating through an agent they gets a degree of legitimacy and a cover for their illegal operations. After that, the ship agent will make the arrangements and then the migrants will disappear.
Andrew Jamieson, the claims director for ITIC, claims that this is not a new issue, but there is a re-emergence of this scam. As he explains, many operators have fallen for this scam and have been left with unpaid hotel bills and other expenses. As a result, they can face fines from the immigration authorities plus liability for detention and repatriation costs if the migrants are caught.
Finally, Mr. Jamieson urges agents to stay vigilant and carry out due diligence to make sure that their clients are legitimate.
