From Ghost Trucks to Double-Brokering: The Deceptive World of Freight Fraud

Truckload freight fraud was a major headache for shippers, carriers, and brokers in 2024. Unfortunately, the problem isn’t going away on its own anytime soon and in fact may even escalate this year. During the third quarter of 2024, CargoNet recorded 776 cargo theft events in the U.S.—up 14% compared to the same period the prior year. These numbers followed a trend that CargoNet tracked throughout 2024: theft events increased by 46% during the first quarter and 33% in the second quarter.

As modern supply chains become increasingly complex and interconnected, criminals are always looking for new ways to exploit vulnerabilities. In fact, the FBI estimates that total annual cargo thefts (e.g., food, drugs, consumer goods, medical devices and other goods) total anywhere from $15 billion-$30 billion+ in the U.S.

“I’ve been fighting freight fraud for 30 years — at American Backhaulers, C.H. Robinson, and now Uber Freight — and it’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” Uber Freight’s Chris McLoughlin writes in Talking Logistics.

“These schemes have been around for years, but what concerns me now is the persistence, sophistication, and volume of attacks are unlike any other,” McLoughlin continues. “And with today’s technology, bad actors can communicate, share intelligence, and move around the country faster than ever before.”

Freight Fraud is Big Business

The bad actors behind the freight fraud are getting craftier and gutsier. They’re creating fake carrier profiles to appear legitimate, manipulating payment information to divert funds to fraudulent accounts and using schemes like email spoofing and hijacking communication channels.

The list of schemes that criminals use to deceive shippers and carriers doesn’t end there. Armstrong Transport Group says companies are also falling prey to:

Phishing Scams: These are deceptive practices where fraudsters masquerade as legitimate businesses to extract sensitive information from shippers or carriers.

Payment Fraud: This type of fraud occurs when criminals gain access to a company’s payment systems. They direct funds to their accounts through various schemes, such as invoice fraud or rerouting payment information.

Fictitious Pickups: These happen when unauthorized individuals, posing as legitimate carriers, pick up cargo shipments. By the time the fraud is detected, the cargo has often vanished, leaving shippers and legitimate carriers at a loss.

Shipment Diversion: Where scammers intercept a shipment in transit and redirect it to an alternative location.

Load Pilferage: Stealing just “some” of the total load often goes undetected until the recipient notices missing items (the documentation is manipulated to cover up the discrepancy).

But wait, there’s more. Ghost trucks, or those non-existent/fabricated trucks used to secure freight contracts, are another major problem that shippers should be aware of. Here’s how it works: criminals make up fictitious trucking companies or use stolen identities to appear legitimate. Companies are deceived into entrusting their goods to these non-existent carriers. The end result? Lost shipments, delays and in some cases, significant financial losses for the companies that get entangled in the fraud.

Double-brokering—an illegal practice whereby a broker passes a shipment to another broker without telling the shipper about the handoff—is another issue that can find shippers paying much more than anticipated on the double-brokered loads. This problem is escalating. In fact, our partners at Truckstop says the number of double-brokering complaints has increased by 400% since 2022.

The victims of these and other fraudulent activities aren’t limited to the companies that are trying to get their goods from point A to point B either. “It’s not just that this brokerage or that carrier got screwed over — it’s a whole supply chain issue affecting all of us,” Andrey Drotenko, president of strategic relations at Verified Carrier, told FreightWaves. “We’re all paying for it, whether through higher prices or damaged reputations.”

Fortifying the Supply Chain

As cargo theft and freight fraud both continue to proliferate, there are some steps that shippers, carriers and brokers can take to address and avoid these problems in 2025. To best mitigate these risks, organizations should implement robust security measures, thoroughly vet all parties involved (e.g., review licenses, insurance coverage and safety ratings) and always use secure payment processes like encrypted platforms and multi-factor authentication.

Technology can also serve as a powerful ally in combatting freight theft, fraud and related issues. A cloud-based transportation management system like Revenova TMS provides high levels of visibility and tracking, for example, to enable quick detection of deviations from planned routes, unexpected delays and other supply chain anomalies. A modern TMS also offers:

• Automated carrier vetting processes
• Robust databases for quick identification (and blacklisting) of fraudulent entities
• Secure communication channels that reduce the risk of email spoofing and payment redirection scams
• Proactive identification of potential threats via data analytics that flags suspicious patterns like extremely low freight rates or shipping documentation inconsistencies

Samantha Haynes, Director of Customer Success at Revenova, says the company works closely with its partners to even further fortress its customers’ supply chains against fraud. For example:

• MyCarrierPortal monitors compliance, helps with new carrier onboarding, and provides a high level of carrier identity (a “critical factor in assessing risk with a carrier,” Haynes says) and security.

• RMIS provides both onboarding and ongoing carrier monitoring support.

• SaferWatch keeps track of carrier compliance and safety statutes, which helps reduce risk.
• Highway provides identity security and ongoing monitoring that shippers and brokers need to keep their loads safe, avoid delays and fight fraud.

“All of these partners focus on preventative measures,” says Haynes, “but we also partner with all of the large advanced tracking and visibility tools that allow our customers to keep a closer eye on all of their shipments—and all with the help of technology.”

To learn more about Revenova TMS, Request a Demo. Follow Revenova on LinkedIn, YouTube, and X for the latest updates and news about Revenova TMS, the original CRM-powered Transportation Management System.