Freight fraud can leave victims wondering whether anyone else has faced the same attack. Stolen identities, deceptive pickups and double brokering can strike businesses across transportation. Many companies never publicly discuss what happened afterward. Freight Fraud Awareness Day wants to change that.
Freight Fraud Awareness Day returns Oct. 14 with advocates across transportation and insurance. This year’s campaign focuses on education, awareness and advocacy. Organizers encourage open dialogue about criminal schemes, industry impacts and available prevention resources. Verified Carrier, Truckstop, Northland Insurance, Travelers, GenLogs, FreightValidate and Freight Bites support the effort.
Andrey Drotenko, president of strategic relations at Verified Carrier, discussed the campaign in a September interview with FreightWaves. “It’s a moment to slow down, compare notes, and just act together,” Drotenko explained. Participants can discuss incidents without revealing safeguards criminals might exploit. That approach allows useful intelligence to circulate while protecting sensitive procedures.
This marks the third annual Freight Fraud Awareness Day. FreightWaves covered the inaugural campaign in October 2024. Early efforts focused on building awareness around transportation scams. Organizers plan new opportunities for professionals to share expertise in coming years.
‘It’s not just me’
Drotenko compared fraud victims with friends discovering they share similar struggles. Another person might reveal an experience that suddenly feels familiar. “Oh, it’s not just me,” he recalled. That realization reflects the campaign’s push for more open dialogue across transportation.
Gary Thomas, manager of risk and mitigation at SPG Cargo & Logistics, has watched criminal tactics evolve. Traditional offenders once needed physical proximity to targeted freight. Digital tools now allow identity manipulation from almost anywhere. Modern security providers must counter methods that barely existed a decade ago.
“We went from a traditional bad guy waiting at the truck stop,” Thomas explained. Criminals can now “digitally manipulate somebody’s identity and the supply chain.” Technology has changed the threat facing commercial transportation. “By working together we hope to bridge that gap.”
Criminal methods keep changing
Retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Gerardo Pachuca has watched offenders exploit transportation knowledge. “Cargo theft has been exploding,” Pachuca explained. Some criminals understand legitimate operations before turning that experience against businesses. “They know how to exploit and misuse those loopholes on the dark side of the industry.”
Federal investigators are seeing similar threats. The FBI’s Memphis Cargo Theft Task Force has warned that cyber-enabled schemes allow criminals to identify valuable shipments before arriving for pickup. Those tactics demonstrate how deception can turn legitimate freight movements into theft opportunities.
Chuck Forsaith, vice president of the Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Coalition, has witnessed another shift. Earlier cases often involved thieves physically taking merchandise. Modern schemes increasingly rely on deception instead. Pharmaceutical losses create additional risks when stolen products return to legitimate commerce.
“Back then it was almost exclusively what we would call straight theft,” Forsaith explained. Today’s methods depend more heavily on some form of fraud. Criminals may ignore required quality controls after taking pharmaceutical products. “That can significantly impact the integrity of the products once they are reintroduced into a supply chain.”
Freight Fraud Awareness Day gives transportation professionals an opportunity to bring those experiences into the open. Companies can discuss what happened without exposing every security measure protecting their operations. Those accounts may reveal threats another business has never encountered. They can also remind victims of something much simpler.
It’s not just me.
Why It Matters
Criminals benefit when fraud stays hidden. Sharing real incidents can expose patterns, close information gaps and help stop the same scheme from hitting someone else.
CFCO
In my opinion, awareness matters most when professionals know what to do next. The FreightWaves Certified Fraud Compliance Officer course turns fraud prevention into a repeatable verification process. Training helps teams question inconsistencies, recognize warning signs and make stronger decisions before freight moves. A consistent approach can stop one overlooked detail from becoming an expensive loss.
Click here for more articles on cargo theft and freight fraud by Phil Brink.
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