Freight fraud reached an all-time high in the first quarter of this year, according to the Freight Fraud Index Report released recently by Highway, a carrier identity platform.
Carriers holding legitimate motor carrier numbers and previously clean operating histories were responsible for roughly 50% of all theft incidents, a pattern that exposes the limits of traditional vetting, according to the report. The data reveals four dominant fraud sources in the first three months of the year:
- direct theft by rogue carriers
- compromised inboxes
- change-of-ownership schemes
- an accelerating wave of social engineering attacks
The quarter was reshaped by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Interim Final Rule on non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, which took effect March 16. Carriers facing license expiration or heightened enforcement scrutiny began treating loads as exit opportunities, contributing to multi-load theft runs by operators with established broker relationships and verified equipment histories, according to the Highway report.
“Fraud has moved from rules to process,” said Michael Grace, vice president of customer risk management at Highway. “Just because you’ve run a thousand loads with a carrier doesn’t mean the next one is safe. There’s a level of risk that’s happening anytime you hire someone.”
It was a busy three months for Highway, during which the company:
- blocked 527,940 fraudulent inbound emails, a 49.9% year-over- year increase
- saw change-of-ownership fraud surge 169.6%, with 399 ownership changes flagged across carrier profiles
- intercepted 71,801 spoofed phone calls and recorded 2,256 reported instances of identity theft, up 89.6% year over year.
- found email-based fraud accounted for roughly 26% of all incidents; change-of-ownership activity, approximately 20%.
Social engineering emerged as the fastest-growing threat in the first quarter. Bad actors impersonated Highway representatives by phone to request verification codes, targeted after-hours teams to extract load details, and spoofed reroute communications after legitimate pickups.
Highway said it will never call a broker or carrier to request a verification code.
“In today’s freight environment, trust can be transferred with a signature and an MC number,” said Michael Caney, chief commercial officer at Highway. “Brokers can’t just verify companies anymore. They have to verify who is actually operating behind the authority.”
Top states for theft activity in the first quarter were:
- California
- New Jersey
- Indiana
- Maryland
- Illinois
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
Highway said the most frequently targeted commodities include meat and seafood, semi-precious metals, and electronics.
International access attempts into broker networks reached 551, originating most frequently from India, Pakistan, and Serbia.
As produce season drives freight volumes higher through the second quarter, theft activity remains concentrated in the same corridors and commodity types that will see increased movement.
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