A real Amazon Prime truck makes a delivery to an apartment complex. Human smugglers in California tried to copy the van, right down to the sound it makes when reversing, federal agents allege.
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In July 2022, a Los Angeles cop ran a standard records check on an Amazon delivery van she’d spotted and found it had been reported stolen. When she pulled the van over, she discovered five people hiding in its rear cargo area; Investigators would later determine them to be unauthorized immigrants.
The operation was run, in part, by an L.A.-based family of four, whose son had spent thousands converting the van to make it look like a legitimate Amazon vehicle, according to criminal charges and a search warrant obtained by . The van would pick individuals up after they made it across the border illegally and help transport them around the country.
Previously, drug traffickers have used a similar tactic: in January two Chinese nationals were convicted of a marijuana dealing conspiracy in which they delivered weed shipments via fake Amazon delivery vans.
The defendants in the smuggling case organized much of the illicit operation on Instagram, federal agents alleged in court documents. Alejandro Anguiano, the son of the family and one of the alleged ringleaders of the smuggling crew, used Meta’s site to coordinate with his mother and sister. His mother is accused of handling cash proceeds from the scheme, and his sister allegedly helped search for suitable Amazon driver uniforms, according to a criminal complaint. The government also alleges Anguiano was using his father’s house in Los Angeles, California, where they all lived, to house and feed the undocumented migrants before they were moved on to new locations.
Anguiano, his mother, father and sister were charged in 2023 with breaking U.S. immigration law by transporting the Mexican nationals without the proper documentation. The mother, father and daughter have pleaded not guilty. Their counsel didn’t respond to a request for comment. Anguiano has not entered a plea and his counsel’s contact details were not available at the time of publication.
A picture of the fake Amazon Prime van from government court filings.
Department of Justice
Amazon declined to comment about alleged criminal use of fake Amazon vans, deferring to law enforcement. The Justice Department hadn’t commented at the time of publication.
The group tried to make the Amazon van look legitimate. In one Instagram message, a fifth alleged co-conspirator, Arturo Valle Jr., wrote to Anguiano, “We gotta still add the reverse horn Cause every Amazon van has em by law.” Amazon vans have been known to make a unique sound when reversing, previously compared to an angry crow and tortoises making love.
Separately, Anguiano messaged an unidentified Instagram user, agreeing to pay them $5,000 for converting the van, investigators claimed.
Public Instagram posts running up to April 2023 showed Valle posting stories to look for drivers, according to the search warrant. The warrant also included Instagram stories in which he showed off his profits: In one from May 2023, on his birthday, Valle is shown flaunting a bundle of cash. In another, in which he poses while drinking with friends, he wrote, “Left my face uncovered for once, y’all welcome,” per the court filing. An agent noted in the warrant that his unmasked face helped them positively identify him.
Valle has been charged but remains a free man. The government noted in a search warrant unsealed earlier this month that his arrest warrant, signed off by a court in April 2023, remains outstanding.