Freight Fraud Blues
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Almost like a scene from Fast and Furious, on the weekend on November 9th, 24,000 bottles of Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar’s Santo Tequila – worth over $1 million – vanished into thin air. Leaving Laredo, Texas the shipment was supposed to arrive at Santo’s warehouse in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, and for all intents and purposes, all signs indicated that it did. The “trucking company” reported delays due to a broken water pump, and GPS signals showed the truck moving along the right route. The product was due Wednesday, but because the scammers spoofed GPS data and provided plausible updates, no one realized anything was wrong until Monday. By then, the tequila was long gone, rerouted to LA, and the entire operation had been executed digitally. The actual truck drivers had no idea they were part of a heist; they were simply following instructions from what they thought was a legitimate carrier.
The broader freight industry, which underpins nearly every aspect of global commerce, is under attack - other notable hits include $2 million worth of Nikes stolen from freight trains across ten separate heists and $1 million of craft whiskey taken from a Washington distillery. A search on FreightWaves, which has done excellent reporting on this topic, yields numerous recent reports, each more hair-raising than the last.
The crisis worsens
Freight fraud has surged to unprecedented levels in recent years. Direct losses in the US are estimated at more than $455 million annually and the Intermodal Association of North America & National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates that criminal enterprises tax the supply chain up at a staggering $35 billion price tag per year. Broadly, freight fraud falls into two categories: straight theft and strategic theft.
Straight theft is exactly what it sounds like - direct physical theft of cargo without complex deception.
Burglary: Cargo stolen from warehouses, facilities, or parked trucks
Pilfering: Small thefts of select items from larger shipments
Hijacking: Seizing a truck or trailer while it’s in motion, often through force or threat
Strategic theft involves deception, impersonation, and careful planning, usually enabled by digital tools or forged documents.
Fictitious pickups & impersonation: Criminals pose as legitimate carriers to pick up shipments under false identities
Double-brokering fraud: Fraudsters re-broker a shipment without the shipper’s knowledge and disappear with the load or payment
Hostage freight: Carriers hold shipments hostage to extort additional payments
Payment fraud & cyber Scams (Inclusive of Altered Bills of Lading): Manipulating payment details and/or shipment documents to divert funds or goods
Insider fraud & collusion: Employees/contractors leak information or assist in the theft
Since the pandemic, strategic theft has risen roughly ~1,500%, while traditional cargo thefts have climbed 93% between 2022 and 2024. There’s little sign of it slowing down with three main growth drivers:
Cost pressure & lax vetting: A 10x spike in U.S. / China shipping costs after the pandemic forced brokers to cut corners, normalize working with unknown carriers, and scale back security protocols
Broader incentives: Inflation expanded the types of goods worth stealing; for example, F&B shipments made up 22% of thefts in 2023, an 8 p.p. increase since 2021
Smarter criminals: Rising digital literacy, AI tools, and easy access to load boards have made fraud scalable. Voice AI and deepfakes let criminals impersonate carriers and dispatchers, while spoofed GPS and hacked portals keep them invisible longer
What’s to be done?
Congress has started paying attention as the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) is currently under review and aims to bring structure and federal support to cargo-theft enforcement. Backed by 15+ organizations, CORCA proposes stronger reporting standards, inter-agency coordination, and measures to deter organized crime – ideally boosting consumer confidence, deterring crime, and improving safety & confidence across the supply chain.
Outside of regulatory support, industry players are relying on layered defenses and tactics across 3 phases:
Before pickup, practices include phone verification, strict partner policies, document checks for forgery, and thorough staff background checks and training
At pickup, two-factor pickup control, no tolerance for last-minute substitutions, and detailed container and trailer inspections are crucial
In transit, strategies involve the “red-zone”(no stops within the first 200 miles) rule for initial travel, avoiding hot spots, and using team drivers or escorts for high-value loads
Beyond physical tactics, software solutions like Highway, Carrier Assure, and Overhaul help curb freight fraud. Highway verifies carrier identities and flags double brokering, Carrier Assure scores carrier risk and crowdsources fraud reports, and Overhaul provides real-time tracking and lane-risk alerts for rapid recovery. A few other players such as Tive, TriumphPay, and Loadsure add monitoring, payment controls, and insurance.
Still, the problem continues to evolve faster than the solutions. Criminals adapt quickly, often using the same tools and data sources as legitimate operators. Until verification, data transparency, and collaboration improve across the logistics ecosystem, freight fraud will remain one of the most profitable crimes few people see coming. If you’re building something to make our supply chains more secure & resilient we want to hear from you. Please reach out to chelsea@equal.vc!
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