SAMMAMISH, Wash. — The King County Sheriff's Office is warning of local moving company scams in the height of the moving season in the greater Seattle area.
"We see these typically during the summertime. We know that there's a peak season for moving and that's where we are now, folks trying to time those around the school schedule," said KCSO Sgt.Tim Meyer.
Meyer said detectives with KCSO are working with other local agencies on a particular type of moving scam.
"During the move they're going to request additional money, always in the form of cash or cashiers check to finish this," Meyer said.
Scam suspects will then load the belongings and drive off, but instead of delivering the items to their destination, the suspects may abandon the valuables in rented storage units.
"Storage lockers in our jurisdictions in Shoreline and Kenmore, for example, have goods from these other moves that are appearing there," Meyer said.
It's what Patrice Cox of Sammamish suspects happened to her, after signing a contract with a broker who connected her with a moving company to help her move several items to her second home in Austin, Texas, in April.
"I never in my wildest dreams would have thought something like this would have happened to us," Cox said.
Cox sensed something was not right when the broker switched up companies at the last minute. Cox said the mover then arrived at 10:30 p.m., the night before Cox was set to fly to Austin.
"Red flags were going up. I think that if we weren't catching that flight the next morning, I would have said stop. Bring it all back," Cox said.
Cox said she paid the mover $896 in a cashier's check before he left and was told he would arrive in Austin by the end of April.
"Then excuses then started," Cox said.
After weeks of delays, Cox said the broker and the moving company eventually stopped contact with her.
Now in August, Cox has yet to get her belongings back, which include gym equipment, a bed, an extensive family Christmas village set and a china set that was passed down by her husband's grandmother, who once lived in Germany.
"During the war, she took her china and buried it in her backyard so that the Nazis wouldn't get it," Cox said. "Looking back, if hindsight is 2020, whatever the saying is, I would have put trackers in my boxes."
KCSO is now investigating Cox's case, though no one has been charged, according to Meyer.
Sheriff's detectives are also looking into several victims' belongings found in storage units in Renton, Kenmore and Shoreline.
"They're picking up the goods, they're depositing them in a storage locker, they now have an empty truck to go victimize something else," Meyer said.
KCSO advises anyone hiring a moving company to check websites like the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission to verify permitted moving companies.
"If they hire an illegal mover and something goes wrong, the UTC is very limited in how we can help them. However, if it’s a legal mover, the consumer can file a complaint and UTC staff will investigate," said UTC Media and Communications Manager Emilie Brown in an email.