Fraudulent Household Goods Mover Sentenced


On Sept. 4, 2014, Wayne Allen, former salesman for ASAP Relocations, Inc. of (ASAP), San Jose, California was sentenced in state court to perform 300 hours of community service and ordered to pay $4,200 in damages for participating in a fraudulent household goods movement scheme. In the scheme, employees including the owner attracted customers with overly low quotes. After beginning the move, the customer would be threatened with having their goods held in storage unless they paid a highly increased fee.

Several state and local law enforcement agencies, as well as the US Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG) participated in a series of operations investigating household goods moving companies with consumer complaints of fraudulent charges. In January 2010, an OIG agent arranged for a move with ASAP from Nevada to California and received a telephone quote of $1,461. After the goods were loaded, the agent was informed that the move would cost $3,138, more than twice the original quote. Of the $1,677 in overages, $900 was for packing materials.