Thwart the thieves: Drive down the high cost of physical and digital cargo theft

By Govind Bhatti, Founder & CEO of Haulmate

Some things never change. Ever since goods were first hauled, someone has been trying to steal them. Once viewed as an unavoidable cost of doing business, cargo theft has mushroomed in recent decades into a serious threat to the functioning of the supply chain. These are not only  being committed brazenly on the road, as usual, but increasingly by cybercriminals lurking online.

In this year’s first quarter, “criminal activities impacting the logistics and transportation industry reached new highs, even amidst the sustained crime wave that began in late 2022,” according to CargoNet, a cargo-theft prevention and recovery network.

The numbers are grim. For Q1, CargoNet documented an astounding 925 incidents, notching an eye-opening jump of 46% over Q1 2023 and a disquieting 10% rise from Q4 2023. Per their analysis, the “average stolen shipment value in the first quarter of 2024 was $281,757, while the declared total value was $76 million. By extrapolating the average shipment value across events without a declared value, CargoNet estimates that a total of $154.6 million worth of goods were stolen during this period.”

There’s no good news ahead on this horizon. Looking out to the second quarter and beyond, CargoNet anticipates that high levels of non-delivery thefts will persist. The threat landscape remains dynamic, requiring stakeholders across the supply chain to remain vigilant and diligently take proactive security measures against both physical and digital theft.

Whack-a-mole

It’s not unlike playing whack-a-mole. CargoNet pegs much of the current threat to fraud-based schemes, but states that theft by the trailer load is not going away:

• Much of the threat came in the form of complex fraud schemes, where entire truckloads were picked up and never delivered or delivered with digitally altered paperwork to hide the theft from the customer.

• However, simple cargo theft, including the theft of entire unattended, loaded trailers and pilferage of unattended, loaded trailers, remained a persistent issue.

As to what’s hot freight for thieves right now, certain commodities, such as small appliances, liquor, energy drinks, and copper, were heavily targeted, but “Thieves demonstrated a propensity to steal a wide array of goods, posing a significant threat to industries nationwide.”

Fraudulent theft, including fictitious pickup incidents, are primarily the handiwork of organized crime groups and are occurring all over the U.S.

Layer it

Security experts advise that fleet executives establish a layered approach to cargo security. This starts with “the development of internal processes and procedures,” recommends Scott Cornell, a veteran cargo theft and crime loss expert at Travelers Insurance. From there, provide regular training and awareness events for employees year-round. "Everyone from drivers to warehouse workers should be trained to recognize, prevent and report cargo theft techniques.”

It’s critical to emphasize cybersecurity measures to guard key information. Moves that you can make to harden shipments against theft include transmitting pickup information only to verified email addresses and, if a load is canceled, changing the pickup instructions.

All Haulmate staffers are trained to be aware of physical and digital security protocols for each load and to extend that diligence to question unusual activity sighted online or along the route. For example, each Haulmate team member is trained to: 

• Verify identity before sharing information on pickups and deliveries

• Carefully check and verify email domains

• Research online to make sure a company exists, including carriers with new authority

• Check credit scores on factoring websites

• Check BOLs to ensure the address matches the company information on file

Stay alert and stay ahead of cargo crooks, whether they are literal highway bandits or their unseen online equivalents. If you would like to enhance your operation to avoid cargo theft and digital fraud, reach out to Haulmate. We’re here, like you, 24/7.