Feds warn carriers about cargo theft scheme

As cargo theft continues to rise in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is alerting carriers about a sophisticated scheme targeting businesses across the country.

In a recent Liaison Information Report published on Wednesday, April 17, the Office of Private Sector and the FBI’s Little Rock Field Office shared details on a scam that has cost the transportation industry millions.

“This scheme uses social engineering to take over carrier administrator accounts or online accounts for third-party transportation services and trick shippers, brokers or carriers into transferring loads to criminal actors for financial gain,” the agencies said.

The term “social engineering” refers to the use of deception or manipulation to trick individuals into divulging confidential or personal information that could be used for a fraudulent purpose.

According to data from the OPS, there were nearly 500 fraud and fictitious pick-up incidents recorded between November 2022 and July 2023, a year-over-year increase of 503%.

The FBI said it has identified three versions of the cargo theft scheme: insider threat, third party and Good Samaritan.

In the insider-threat and third-party versions of the scheme, scammers use social engineering techniques to take over an administrator or online account of a targeted business for third-party services. The agency said these techniques can include:

• Recruiting an employee of a targeted business or third-party transportation service
• Contacting a third-party transportation service for assistance with account lockouts
• Scanning a third-party transportation service website for vulnerabilities

Once the criminals have gained access to a carrier’s account, they then update the account’s contact details with a telephone number and email address that they control.

In a third-party version of the scheme, scammers take over one or more of a carrier’s account credentials. These stolen accounts then are used to book loads for financial gain. The FBI said these accounts are “either harvested by an employee of the third-party transportation service, or criminals identify a vulnerability in the third-party transportation service’s network or website that allows them access to administrator account login credentials.”

Finally, with the Good Samaritan version of the scheme, crooks monitor driver databases to obtain information about shipments.

“The criminals contact a carrier and advise they have a driver close by who can pick up the shipment, then convince the carrier’s administrator to provide the shipper’s pick-up number to the criminals, who then steal the load,” the FBI said.

Carriers should be cognizant of the following suspicious activities:

• Individuals outside your business soliciting information about scheduled or in-progress shipments
• Outside entities offering to help or assist your business with shipments
• Unusual or unexpected changes in business contact information or login credentials
• Unusual login attempts to business load management systems
• Vendors or contractors showing unusual interest in business processes or systems

“An indicator alone does not accurately determine cargo theft activity,” the agencies said. “Organizations should evaluate the totality of behavior, including message delivery and other relevant circumstances when notifying security/law enforcement personnel.”

According to OPS, theft losses in the transportation sector totaled $694,327,811 in 2023. That number marks a large increase from the year prior when theft losses totaled just over $223 million.

According to CargoNet, a Jersey City, N.J.-based data- and information-sharing company that works with motor carriers and law enforcement to combat cargo theft, there were a total of 2,852 reported theft incidents in 2023 – marking a 59.33% increase over the previous year.

The company noted an increase as far back as this past September, with a 57% increase in reported theft from the second quarter of 2023. By November, the company said that theft had reached “unprecedented levels”.

“Much of the increase is due to ongoing shipment misdirection attacks, a kind of strategic cargo theft in which actors use stolen motor carrier and logistics broker identities to obtain freight and misdirect it from the intended receiver so they (can) steal it,” CargoNet said in a statement.

The issue of cargo theft has become so widespread that the creation of a permanent task force to address supply chain thefts is now being addressed at the legislative level. In May, Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., and several other lawmakers wrote to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General expressing their concerns.

“We urge the Office of Inspector General to consider creating a special unit within the office, in consultation with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Department of Justice, to investigate, refer and prosecute cases of transportation fraud in a systematic, concerted manner,” they said.

In August, DOT Inspector General Eric Soskin responded to the group’s letter, saying his office would continue to collaborate with FMCSA to investigate double brokering and other fraud schemes.

“Recognizing the importance of preventing and detecting fraud, waste and abuse in our transportation system, we will continue to partner with FMCSA and the Department of Justice to investigate the most egregious allegations of household goods moving and double-brokering fraud, in addition to our primary focus on cases that align with OIG’s top investigative priorities,” Soskin wrote in the response letter. LL