(NewsNation) — Efforts to combat cyber thieves in the shipping and transportation industry are intensifying, as the Wall Street Journal reports scammers are pretending to be carriers online aiming to skim payments.
If a shipper needs a load delivered to a warehouse or store, a scammer intervenes as the middleman and either holds the load for ransom or doesn’t deliver it. It’s significantly impacting the supply chain, trickling down to consumers as they may face price hikes or shortages of essential items such as food, electronics, building supplies and cars.
Industry analysts classify this as a form of fraud or theft within the practice of double-brokering, where a broker or carrier will transfer the load to another company without telling the shipper, according to eCapital. Scammers take advantage of the practice to commit fraud or steal.
A FreightWaves study found this is emerging as one of the most pervasive problems in the trucking industry, affecting as much as $700 million in freight annually.
DAT Freight & Analytics, which operates the largest freight load board in North America, reported it blocked access from more than 3,000 accounts suspected of fraud in 2022 and the same amount during the first half of 2023.
“We’re moving through the supply chain at the speed of light. So, I put something on a load board and it’s picked up by someone that, say, stole someone else’s identity, and then I steal the goods. There’s where the impact is on the supply chain,” said Keith Lews, the vice president of operations of CargoNet at Verisk.
Agencies like the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and FBI help investigate all forms of cargo theft. According to research group CargoNet, theft incident reports increased about 60% from 2022 to 2023.
Last year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it was increasing enforcement actions against moving schemes, which occur when carriers hold consumers’ goods hostage or export fees from them while moving homes.
