got scammed for 4500

Sounds like the Shipper not only is in on it, but is the Scammer. May or may not have sent money Via Zellar. If so, it came right back to him.

 

That’s what I’m beginning to think

 

Looooool. Yeah, he's in on it.

 

@PPDCT nailed it earlier in the thread, hire a lawyer to go after the receiver. Baxter & Bailey is another one that specializes in this, every year we have at least a few demand letters from them because a dirt bag pretending to be an actual carrier double brokered the load and didn't pay the actual carrier.

 

Don’t be intimidated by the shipper or the broker .

file against their bond and go after the receiver too

 

Response to the shipper should be from a law firm….

 

Have your lawyer go after this. You’re not gonna get all your money back because you’re gonna be paying your lawyer, but that is the cost of doing business. Not saying you haven’t done this, but we screen new brokers just like they would screen you. We check out their History with Baxter, Bailey, FMCSA, Satellite view their office, scrutinize their email, and sometimes call the broker back. This all takes time and sometimes I lose the load, but you can’t be too careful these days.

 

So, the problem with that is that @pavrom was given the load by someone impersonating a brokerage. It's almost certainly likely that the shipper was in on the scam. The broker and the bond company will categorically deny any action on this- and they should. The brokerage was a victim as much as Pavrom was. It's clear enough that pavrom's factoring company is convinced of it, and they would likely be in a place to confirm. So, filing on the broker or suing them is a colossal waste of time because in the end, they can provably demonstrate that they were not at any point in the cycle responsible for the freight in question. So, it's not even worth the time to throw it at them.

The shipper is a different animal, but collecting from him is going to be a ginormous pain in the ###. He's already trying to warn Pavrom off by threatening "extortion" and citing state law about it. Which is funny, because federal law states that Pavrom's gotta get paid for his work. So, with that in mind, and knowing what we know here, since the shipper allegedly hired the "broker" (IE: the scammer who was either the shipper himself, or another actual scammer - my gut tells me that the shipper was in on it especially since he "paid" a thousand bucks for the shipment on Zelle - who won't reverse a transaction under most circumstances) he's going to be a waste of time.

In the end, the receiver is an actual demonstrable business entity, who @pavrom knows exists. He can go to their place of business again. That's the best bet as regards an entity to put pressure on. I'd seriously consider Baxter & Bailey or Alexander, Winton, & Associates for this, and start on the receiver. Either they'll pay up, or they'll put pressure on someone to pay you. They take a percentage of your settlement with *whomever*, but that's honestly going to be your best to get paid anything at all on this.

 

Get an attorney, and/or contact OOIDA to see if they have help/history on this guy, especially if you are a member, and see if they can offer you some guidance for free. They are currently working on capitol hill to fight this so called 'broker fraud', and may have history on this nutjob and the company he claims he payed. For all you know, he did it himself and pocketed the money.