Criminals Exploit Online Platforms to Facilitate Cargo Theft

Criminals are reportedly exploiting supply chain technology to steal truckloads of products.

They are using online platforms to facilitate “strategic theft,” a form of cargo theft in which fraudsters impersonate legitimate companies, book shipments and trick shippers, brokers or carriers into delivering cargo and/or payments to them instead of the legitimate companies, CNBC reported Friday (May 9).

Strategic theft contributed to a 26% increase in the number of cargo theft incidents between 2023 and 2024, the report said, citing data from Verisk CargoNet.

The share of all cargo theft accounted for by strategic theft rose from 8% in 2020 to about 33% in 2024, according to the report.

Verisk CargoNet recorded 3,798 cargo theft incidents with total losses of $455 million in 2024, per the report. Other industry experts told CNBC that many cases go unreported and that the losses could be closer to $1 billion.

A representative of one logistics company said in the report that as many as one-third of the prospects who contact the company are criminals trying to steal freight.

It is difficult to track down fraudsters conducting strategic theft because they are often located in other countries and because, as is the case with identity theft targeting individuals, there is little evidence about their own identity, according to the report.

Criminals are also using online platforms to identify the locations of valuable products and then steal the products, the report said.

To combat these forms of cargo theft, companies are strengthening their onboarding process, increasing their real-time monitoring to identify suspicious behavior, and watching for unauthorized changes to businesses’ contact information on the website of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration(FMCSA), according to the report.

The FMCSA itself has added multi-factor authentication and other security enhancements to protect the data on its site, the report said.

Lawmakers have addressed the issue of cargo theft, too, per the report. For example, a bill called the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act would create a coordination center to fight cargo theft and organized retail crime. Another bill, the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act, would add civil penalties and stricter regulations.

Digital fraud has become increasingly sophisticated due to the use of artificial intelligence and the rising industrialization of the fraud space by organized crime groups, PYMNTS reported in April 2024.

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