In recent months AMI have seen an increase in fraudulent hire within the construction industry.
The latest techniques are professional gangs setting up a new business and building up credit history based on small, legitimately paid hires. After several small hires, the bogus company then moves to larger hire companies. Setting up a credit account and then vanishing without a trace, along with the kit they have hired/stolen! Often fraudsters target high value plant items to order that are then shipped out of the country for sale in the used equipment industry.
After many years it is highly unfortunate that fraud is still widespread in our industry. Many plant hire companies have been the target of sophisticated fraudsters and victims of theft. On a weekly basis AMI are helping customers to locate and recover stolen equipment. Just this week an attempt to hire several items of equipment was intercepted by staff at Lakeside Hire from a depot in South London. The company name was given as Apex Construction Work Ltd, the location Croydon. The individual attempted to hire multiple items:
- Pressure washer
- Plate compactor
- Concrete Breaker
- Cement Mixer
Please report any fraudulent activity to your local and regional Police for intelligence purposes and, to the National Policing Reporting Centre for fraud and cybercrime www.actionfraud.police.uk.
AMI Group offer a range of tracking devices which give plant hirers protection in the event of plant theft. Even if the equipment is stolen, AMI tracking devices allow plant hirers to quickly pinpoint the location of the asset from a smart phone or desktop. Saving thousands of pounds and avoiding the hassle and inconvenience of replacing stolen kit. Keypad and Dallas Key immobilisation can also help in the prevention in fraudulent hire locking down the machine until a valid code or fob is presented.
