According to a six-month investigation conducted by CNBC, there has been “a record surge in cargo theft” in U.S. supply chains. A rising trend among these thefts is “strategic theft” in which criminal networks use deceptive tactics such as fraudulent invoices and impersonate staff of legitimate companies to trick brokers, shippers, and carriers to steal truckloads of cargo.
Phishing emails are often a factor in these tactics, with employees who respond to fraudulent emails or click on links which inadvertently provide access to corporate data such as account lists or shipping details.
Using this information, fraudulent actors will, for example, utilize legitimate brokers’ sites to impersonate company employees to hire legitimate carriers to transport the goods to the location that the illicit actors have set up. Alternatively, they gain access to a carrier’s information to impersonate a legitimate driver to pick up a truckload and take off, leaving little trace to follow.
Another favored tactic of fraudsters is to utilize phishing techniques to gain access and change the contact details (phone number, email, and/or address) of legitimate carriers on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) register to impersonate a reputable trucking company.
Perpetrators of strategic theft are difficult to catch – fraudulent delivery locations are easily set up and then vanish once deliveries are made, and although the activity physically takes place in the United States, the majority of these theft attempts originate overseas and are difficult to trace.
Traditional cargo theft remains the dominant method, however all players in the supply chain should be aware of these new and sophisticated tactics being used for strategic theft.
A look at the data
There was a notable increase in cargo theft from 2023 to 2024. The Association of American Railroads saw a 40% increase in reported incidents in 2024 from the previous year. Verisk CargoNet, which tracks theft trends in the industry, reported a 26% increase year on year with strategic theft now accounting for approximately one-third of total cargo theft incidents totaling around $137 million in annual losses.
While the first quarter of 2025 recorded fewer cargo theft incidents as well as fewer identity fraud reports than Q1 2024, Verisk CargoNet cautions that criminals are using more sophisticated tactics that are harder to detect. Fraudulent activities such as Business Email Compromise (BEC), whereby thieves gain authorized access to legitimate business email accounts to impersonate an employee and intercept shipment tenders, are harder for companies to detect.
The top targeted commodity types were Food and Beverage, followed by Household Goods and Electronics. The top targeted states were California, Texas, and Florida. Together, these three states represent 45% of all reported cargo theft incidents in the first quarter of 2025.
Government response
Within the last year, two bills have been introduced to Congress aimed at strengthening the prevention and enforcement of cargo theft.
The first bill is the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, which would expand federal enforcement of criminal offenses related to organized retail crime and establish an Organized Retail Crime Coordination Center within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Another bill recently introduced, the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act, would expand the authority of the FMCSA to issue penalties for violations of regulations.
What can CTPAT Partners do?
While the CTPAT Program primarily focuses on supply chain security threats outside U.S. borders, CTPAT Partners should have visibility into their entire supply chains, including domestically. And as part of the Minimum Security Criteria (MSC), Partners should already have a robust training and threat awareness program in place to spread awareness throughout their supply chain partners as well as internal company employees.
Partners should leverage these existing mechanisms to ensure that all business partners are aware of this rising trend and the tactics being used. For tips on training drivers on these and other threats, see our earlier post on Driver Security Guidance.
This is also a good opportunity to look back at your cybersecurity policies and procedures to ensure that you not only meet the CTPAT MSC, but also have safeguards in place to prevent falling victim to phishing attacks.
Lastly, you may want to look at your policies concerning company data, such as shipment information, to ensure that access controls and permission systems are in place, and keep sensitive information on a need-to-know basis.
