Ravi Singh was intrigued when a company promising low shipping rates reached out to him on LinkedIn.
Singh, CEO and founder of 3PL warehouse Singh Logistics, was contacted in July 2023 by a representative of NullShip Shipping Solutions, a Florida-based company claiming to offer “easy shipping fulfillment at the highest discount rates from world-wide known carriers.” With prices ranging from $3 to $9, Singh was interested; his Indiana-based company ships some 3,000 packages a day.
He closed on the deal last September and began using NullShip’s platform in October. Two weeks later, problems arose. Packages disappeared — some $18,000 worth. NullShip refunded Singh but didn’t notify UPS or the Postal Service, which Singh found unusual.
“Maybe this is a real company and maybe the packages just got lost,” he thought.
Until it happened again. But this time when Singh sought a refund, his NullShip account was locked within a week and he was out $6,000 in lost goods.
“These people told me, ‘We created a contract directly with USPS, UPS, because we ship over 100,000 packages a day, so we got a really good price with them,’” Singh told FreightWaves, adding that he thought it was legitimate platform since some companies have contracts for discounted shipping rates with the Postal Service.
Gordon Glazer, a senior consultant with shipping intelligence and optimization platform Shipware and a Postal Service specialist, said USPS can confiscate products shipped with counterfeit labels, even if the purchaser was duped into buying the illegitimate postage.
He recommended shippers investigate companies claiming to offer discounted rates.
USPS fighting counterfeit labels
Counterfeit postage is a widespread issue, according to the Postal Service. As of October, the agency had reduced the scheme by 50% since the start of its interception program, but said it continues to crack down on fraudulent postage. Efforts include shuttering websites and e-commerce accounts associated with the scheme.
FreightWaves purchased a Postal Service label from NullShip for $3 for purposes of this story. U.S. Postal Inspector Michael Martel confirmed the label was counterfeit. The label, which appeared legitimate, bore e-commerce software company Shippo’s logo. Shippo did not respond to multiple inquiries from FreightWaves seeking information about the label and whether Shippo and NullShip have worked together.
Glazer said the shipping label FreightWaves purchased for reporting purposes did not list the package’s weight or cubic tier, which an authentic label will include.
FreightWaves purchased a USPS label from NullShip, a company claiming to offer discounted shipping, for $3. A USPS representative confirmed it was counterfeit.
The label’s tracking number also did not show up when searched on the Postal Service’s website, which Glazer said was a sign it was counterfeit, as the agency was never notified of the label and didn’t have it in its system.
“Counterfeit shipping labels will not provide any tracking information because it was never ‘purchased’ through a postage provider,” he said. “Once a label is created and paid for, it begins the tracking process and once the first scan occurs, it starts the clock for tracking and service performance. A very easy way to tell if you were robbed is to simply track the package online via USPS.com. A counterfeit label will not show up because it was not paid for.”
Martel declined to comment on whether the Postal Service is investigating NullShip or if it had received complaints related to its platform.
NullShip did not respond to multiple FreightWaves inquiries about the allegations.
A legitimate-looking company — at first
Despite having a “.gg” domain instead of the familiar “.com,” NullShip has a legitimate-looking website promising to save customers up to 94% on shipments.
The website includes a newsletter signup and an FAQ page where the company vows transparency and 24/7 customer support. Testimonials from purported customers boast positive experiences.
The company’s website features four people listed only by their first names. A reverse image search of the headshots reveals their professional websites and LinkedIns, including for Corey Whitehead, who is listed as the company’s founder. Crunchbase, a website that provides information on businesses, lists NullShip as a woman-led company founded by Brittany Board.
It is not clear if Board is a real person; her biography on Crunchbase claims she founded NullShip in 2022 after working in the industry for years. A reverse image search reveals that Board’s headshot is a stock photo used on more than a dozen websites.
NullShip filed its business incorporation documents in Delaware on Aug. 23, 2023, and with the Florida secretary of state’s office on Aug. 31 of last year. The Florida filing lists Whitehead as the person authorized to manage the company and says it is based in Miami. The registered agent is listed as Lovette Dobson, who is listed as the organizer, agent or CEO of tens of thousands of companies.
A class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in October 2020 alleges that Dobson fraudulently formed a company in the plaintiff’s name. The suit says Dobson was associated with Incfile.com LLC and QuickCorp and may be a fictitious person.
Whitehead did not respond to a FreightWaves inquiry about the allegations, nor did Kong Lee, the company’s director who reached out to Singh seeking his business. Lee also reached out to Aaron Rubin, the founder and CEO of ShipHero, a software company for warehouse management.
Rubin had also heard of NullShip through a private chat group for those in the e-commerce shipping industry. NullShip’s low prices caught Rubin’s eye — because they’re not possible, he told FreightWaves.
“I went digging,” he said.
He bought a Postal Service shipping label from NullShip — available for purchase only through Zelle — and said the Postal Service and Shippo both confirmed it was counterfeit.
Company not affiliated with companies, people it claims
NullShip’s website claims that ShipStation, an online shipping platform, is “the backbone of our shipping operations.” The company told FreightWaves it does not work with NullShip.
“ShipStation is not a partner with NullShip, and NullShip has inappropriately added ShipStation and our logo to the NullShip website,” the company said in a statement to FreightWaves. “We take such matters very seriously and are committed to maintaining the integrity of our products and the trust of our users. We are looking into this matter further.”
Other partners NullShip claims to work with include Walmart and Shopify.
The company lists Ariana Escalante as its content manager. Escalante, a freelance spokesperson and media personality, connected with NullShip on Upwork, an online freelancer marketplace, for a video project, but is not their content manager, said her manager, Jon Gluck.
“The use of Ariana’s likeness on their About page and identifying her as part of their staff is totally false and an unauthorized use of Ariana’s likeness,” Gluck told FreightWaves. “We will be contacting NullShip to immediately remove her from any and all of their public platforms.”
Gluck said he and Escalenta were in a dispute with NullShip due to the company changing the terms of their project, the manager said.
He said NullShip’s page, operating through Whitehead’s account, is under investigation and suspended from Upwork. It is unclear why.
Stanley Griffis, a Michigan State University professor who teaches supply chain management and logistics and studies illicit supply chain networks, said small businesses likely do not possess the ability and time to vet companies the way a large-scale operation with a robust supply chain department would.
“If you’re a smaller organization, you’re not going to have the time to go dig into if this is a reliable provider,” he said. “It’s important that people who get caught by these folks do turn them in.”
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