CARROLLTON, Ga., May 7 (UPI) -- Three truck drivers, showing what appeared to be the right paperwork, drove off with $500,000 worth of copper wire from a Georgia company, police said.

Southwire Corp. in Carrollton, Ga., and Jones Trucking, a Forest Park, Ga., transport broker that had arranged the pickup, only realized a large-scale theft had occurred several days later, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. The companies alerted police Tuesday, five days after the copper was taken.

"The three trucks show up, load up the copper and become a ghost," Carrollton police Lt. James Perry told the newspaper Friday.

The thieves apparently learned Southwire was looking for drivers to carry three loads of copper wire to customers in Indiana from a Web site for independent truckers. Jones posted the job there.

Perry said Jones got what appeared to be a legitimate fax on LaRolle Transport letterhead listing the drivers. LaRolle denies sending the fax.

Gary Leftwich, a Southwire spokesman, said that while copper has become a popular target for the dishonest, thieves are usually not as sophisticated and competent as the ones that hit his company.

"It's a good piece of work," he said. "It's a shame they don't put these talents to good use."