FBI Agent Says Cargo Theft Is Now ‘Primarily Cyber-Enabled’

Cargo theft is now “primarily cyber-enabled,” an FBI agent said in a Tuesday (Nov. 25) Wall Street Journal report.

Doug McKelway, a supervisory special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s criminal division, told the WSJ that many cargo thefts now start on online platforms that match trucking companies with shipments.

In this form of theft, cybercriminals impersonate officials who are authorized to bid on loads or reroute shipments, the report said, citing identity security firm Sailpoint.

In some cases, hackers post fake loads to the platforms, deliver malicious software to bidders during email exchanges, take control of the truck company’s online systems, use the company’s accounts to bid on real shipments, and then deliver those shipments to warehouses operated by criminals, the report said, citing cybersecurity firm Proofpoint.

Firms that don’t use these industry platforms are also targeted by fraud and deception enabled by cyber tactics, according to the report.

Trucking firms were targeted by about a quarter of the online threats that were tracked globally by cyber research firm Trellix between April and September, per the report. These threats include phishing and impersonation scams.

Cargo theft losses increased by 27% in 2024 and are expected to increase another 22% this year, according to the website of the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB).

The estimated annual losses are as much as $35 billion, with the estimated average value of individual theft gauged at greater than $202,000, per the website.

“As evolving business technology has made transporting goods from location to location faster and more efficient in many ways, it has also created gaps in security that allow criminals to exploit cargo delivery systems,” NICB said on its site. “Increasingly, this digitalization can be exploited to facilitate fraudulent or fictitious pickups, fictitious carriers and cyber-enabled logistics manipulation.”

The FBI identifies strategic cargo theft and cyber cargo theft as two types of cargo theft. On its website, it says strategic cargo theft involves thieves incorporating deceptive tactics to commit theft, while cyber cargo theft involves them using cyberattacks to gain information they can use to commit fictitious pick-ups.

“When using online load boards, exercise increased caution and due diligence to verify the identities of people and companies you are contracting with,” the FBI suggested on its site.