Cargo theft reaching record levels, prompting calls for congressional action

Trucking, railroad and shipper representatives raised the alarm about the rise of cargo theft affecting U.S. supply chains during a congressional hearing last week.

Leaders from BNSF, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, Tanager Logistics and Academy Sports and Outdoors urged lawmakers to step up enforcement during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Feb. 27.

Broker fraud, shipment interception and other forms of cargo theft are costing supply chains up to $35 billion annually, multiple speakers said, citing data from the federal Homeland Security Investigations agency.

Those crimes are contributing to higher consumer costs — and threatening some carriers’ livelihoods.

“Since I began my testimony, a small business trucker has likely fallen prey to fraud that could jeopardize their entire business,” OOIDA EVP Lewie Pugh said. “That’s how commonplace freight fraud is becoming in trucking.”

Much of the crime is committed by repeat offenders, and only one in 10 results in an arrest, Sen. Todd Young said, citing the American Trucking Associations.

Cargo theft rises and gets creative

The rise in cargo theft is hurting truckers, logistics companies, shippers and if it continues can also begin to hurt consumers’ pockets.

“In my 25 years in the supply chain, I’ve never seen cargo theft this prevalent,” Robert Howell, chief supply chain officer at Academy Sports and Outdoors said during the hearing.

Howell said the types of thefts include load interception, identity theft, double brokering and cyber fraud. Crime in this area has advanced from stealing a truckload or duplicating a Department of Transportation motor carrier number to cyber theft of online credentials and systems.

“Recently, we had a shipment we call private label swimwear. It was intercepted on its way from Nevada to our Texas distribution center. As you can imagine, this is critical this time of year for the season. Unfortunately, we had to react when that load was stolen and repurpose and reposition product throughout our network,” Howell said.

The event resulted in additional costs to the company as well as shipment delays, and ultimately an impact to the consumer, Howell added. It also impacted third-party service providers, brokers and carriers.

Another logistics provider, Tanager Logistics and Double Diamond Transport, got its email spoofed and its identity stolen in a separate case, CEO Adam Blanchard testified.

“Posing as Tanager Logistics, the criminals brokered loads to unsuspecting motor carriers who delivered the cargo, while the scammers pocketed the money,” Blanchard said. “In just one example, they diverted a full truckload of energy drinks with a retail value well over six figures, over 1,000 miles from Texas to California.”

Emboldened by the lack of investigations and prosecutions, cargo thieves are growing the size and sophistication of their operations, Blanchard warned.

“At this very moment, two Tanager Logistics are listed on the FMCSA official website: my company and an imposter,” he said. “We provided this evidence to FMCSA, but they refused to take it down.”

Congress needs to take action

While stakeholders shared how cargo theft has impacted their individual company and industry, all of them advised congress on measures that need to be taken to start controlling the theft that is happening.

An estimated 65,000 thefts occurred in 2024, which was about a 40% increase over the prior year, Will Johnson, chief special agent at BNSF Railway Police Department said during the hearing, citing the Association of American Railroads.

The rise could be attributed to the lack of coordination and jurisdictional guidance.

“Cargo theft cases often cross multiple state lines, making jurisdictional coordination, prosecution and data collection extremely difficult,” Johnson said. A lack of a coordinated federal cargo theft enforcement effort also hinders effective prosecution, he added.

Johnson urged congress to consider multiple action items as a starting point to find effective solutions. Johnson’s suggestions include:

1. Support the establishment of a Federal Supply Chain Crime Coordination Center and Supply Chain Fraud and Theft Task Force to address cargo theft in all aspects of the supply chain.
2. Direct funding to dedicated federal prosecutors to tackle cargo theft cases.
3. Modernize the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration vetting process to include stronger authentication methods, real time carrier verification, and implement controls around the sale or transfer of DOT and MC numbers.
4. Increase criminal penalties for cargo theft cases.
5. Allow all victims aggregated harm to be considered in these offenses.
6. Encourage public private partnerships between corporate security teams, carrier monitoring services, load boards, insurers and law enforcement through data sharing initiatives.
7. Allow the prosecution venue to be established at the place of offense, an…