Claims News Service, Dec. 20, 10:16 a.m. EST -- Several individual have been accused of posing as FEMA employees in order to sell stolen farm and construction equipment.
The National Equipment Register, an organization that helps law enforcement identify and recover stolen equipment, reported that it recently received a call from a citizen in southern Mississippi who was being offered a used Caterpillar dozer at a price below market value. The sellers, who alleged that they were FEMA employees, stated that they were disposing of machines that were no longer needed.
According to NER, before proceeding with the purchase, the prospective buyer suspected that the dozer had been stolen. NER searched the Product Identification Number against its database and found a close match to a recent theft report by a police agency in northern Mississippi - however, the two PINs differed by one digit.
NER said that police officers went to the sale location and upon examining the dozer, were able to confirm that PIN seemed to be tampered with and determined that the dozer matched the one from the theft report.
According to NER, the investigation revealed that these sellers were posing as FEMA employees. Officers have since identified several other machines as being stolen, and have impounded nine machines valued at over $350,000 and made at least two arrests.
More information about NER is available at www.nerusa.com.
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