This publish is a part of a collection sponsored by IAT Insurance coverage Group.

Cargo theft reached an all-time high in 2024 – up 26% from 2023, with whole reported losses of $455 million. The common estimated worth per theft rose 7.7% to $202,364.

More and more, these thefts consequence from a rising tactic referred to as strategic cargo theft – a way by which criminals use stolen identities of motor carriers and logistics brokers to misdirect and steal freight. This theft has surged nationwide, significantly in hotspots like California, Georgia, Illinois, Tennessee, and Texas, with incidents rising by a staggering 430% year over year.

CNBC carried out a six-month investigation into the crime, uncovering how more and more subtle cargo theft rings are concentrating on America’s provide chain to steal total truckloads carrying shopper items, meals, drinks, and electronics with close to impunity. Fleet homeowners and operators ought to take proactive measures to safeguard cargo earlier than a loss and be ready to behave shortly if a theft happens.

High Ways for Strategic Cargo Theft

Diligence is important to guard cargo from more and more subtle heists, which may manifest in numerous methods – from phishing and on-line scams to full-blown identification theft. Understanding frequent cargo theft techniques will assist drivers, carriers, and shippers implement efficient threat administration methods to cut back the chance of loss.

One frequent tactic entails perpetrators impersonating a freight dealer or provider to safe a cargo from a buyer. They then prepare for an unsuspecting driver or provider to move and ship the freight. The thieves typically use industry-specific jargon, instruct drivers to not disclose supply particulars to the shipper, and will even tender money upon supply so as to add a layer of legitimacy.

As soon as the official provider has picked up the load, the thieves try and redirect it to a warehouse for fast transloading and product motion. When the cargo fails to reach at its vacation spot, the shopper investigates solely to find they may have contracted with a fraudulent dealer or provider. The harmless driver, who unknowingly adopted false directions, is commonly left bearing the blame and will get penalized.

In different circumstances, thieves will create a faux brokerage to safe load contracts, then rent a third-party provider to move the cargo. After receiving cost from the shopper, they disappear, leaving the precise provider unpaid.

Further types of strategic cargo theft embrace double brokering and consignee impersonation. In double brokering, a dealer contracts a official provider to move freight however secretly rebrokers the load to a different occasion with out the shipper’s consent, conserving the cost and leaving the precise provider uncompensated. In consignee impersonation, scammers use phishing and cyberattacks to change recipient particulars and intercept shipments in transit.

Efficient Methods for Strategic Cargo Theft Prevention

Shielding your digital information from malicious actors is crucial to forestall cargo theft. Listed below are 4 greatest practices to assist cut back your threat:

1. Safeguard and Confirm your Data

Leverage your personal experiences and insights from colleagues {and professional} networks as proactive defenses in opposition to cargo scams. For instance, if an unfamiliar particular person claims to characterize one in every of your shippers, brokers, or carriers, confirm their identification with a trusted contact earlier than shifting ahead.

Pay shut consideration to particulars like e-mail addresses, telephone numbers, bodily addresses, logos, and names. Even minor discrepancies can sign a rip-off – and result in substantial losses.

As a shipper or receiver, it’s important to trace each incoming and outgoing truck. Doc the motor provider quantity, driver’s license, invoice of lading, provider identify, and extra. At any time when doable, use video surveillance or take photographs to take care of data.

Whereas this degree of scrutiny requires effort, it considerably deters dangerous actors concentrating on your useful cargo.

2. Display New Partnerships

Like with private relationships, ongoing safety depends on working with trusted companions. Longstanding relationships with vetted carriers and brokers make sure that your pursuits are understood and prioritized.

When evaluating new companions, carry out thorough due diligence. Use references, skilled networks, and instruments just like the Federal Motor Provider Security Administration (FMCSA) and Carrier411 to vet suppliers and defend your operation.

3. Preserve a Wholesome Degree of Skepticism

Keep cautious when reviewing gives from carriers, brokers, or shippers. If one thing appears too good to be true, it most likely is.

Whereas pricing can fluctuate, trucking prices – like gas, automobile upkeep, and driver pay – are typically secure. Be skeptical of unusually low charges or overly beneficiant pay, and examine the reasoning behind such gives earlier than committing.

4. Guarantee Data Safety Protocols are in Place

Though elementary, these cybersecurity greatest practices stay important within the struggle in opposition to trendy scams, together with cargo theft:

• Maintain passwords confidential. Share them solely with trusted people, replace them repeatedly, and shut unused accounts.
• Keep away from clicking on hyperlinks from unknown sources. Encourage workers to hover over hyperlinks and verify the browser standing bar earlier than clicking.
• Don’t reply to unsolicited emails, particularly these impersonating official corporations.

Conventional Cargo Theft Developments and Finest Practices

Whereas strategic cargo theft has surged lately, conventional cargo theft stays prevalent. In 2024, 46% of all cargo theft occurred in California, Texas, and Illinois. Probably the most focused areas had been warehouse/distribution facilities and truck stops, with high commodities together with meals, drinks, and shopper family items.

Finest practices for drivers and carriers to cut back the danger embrace:

• Embody cargo safety in your pre-trip inspection.
• Be strategic with parking: again trailers in opposition to buildings, fences, or different trailers; park in well-lit, high-traffic areas; and search for surveillance cameras.
• Don’t talk about your load or route with anybody who doesn’t have to know.
• If you happen to suspect you’re being adopted, decelerate and let the automobile cross. If that fails, exit at a secure location. Contact regulation enforcement if suspicion stays.
• Attempt to drive a number of hours after pick-up earlier than making any stops, lowering the possibility of being focused.
• Use theft-deterrent units to safe and monitor your freight.
• If the automobile should be left unattended, lock it, take the keys, and return shortly.
• Upon return, scan the world for suspicious folks or automobiles and alter accordingly.
• Comply with all firm insurance policies and procedures associated to cargo safety.

Ought to a theft happen, promptly file a report with regulation enforcement, notify all related stakeholders, and collaborate together with your dealer or insurer to provoke the claims course of. By following these protocols, you’ll be able to successfully handle and mitigate the impacts of cargo theft.

IAT Insurance coverage Vendor Partnerships to Stop Cargo Theft

IAT Insurance coverage has added two new companions to its Loss Management vendor checklist, providing cargo theft prevention merchandise at most well-liked pricing for IAT policyholders:

• Enforcer Locks: Providing a variety of industrial quality safety merchandise, together with padlocks, trailer door bar locks, air cuff locks, and trailer kingpin locks.
• 7P Solutions: Specializing in covert GPS cargo monitoring and trailer geo-fencing know-how.

For extra data, please contact the IAT Insurance coverage Loss Management division.

ASK A LOSS CONTROL REPRESENTATIVE
Have a query on find out how to mitigate threat? E-mail [email protected]

INTERESTED IN LEARNING MORE?
IAT Loss Management Specialist Jared Fritts and SVP of Business Truck Pete Matthews speak extra about strategic cargo theft on IAT’s podcast, What’s Brewing. Tune in here.

By Jared Fritts

Subjects
Fraud
Trucking

A college system in Connecticut that’s on the heart of an ongoing authorized battle over permitting transgender pupil athletes to take part in aggressive ladies’ sports activities is being investigated by the Trump administration, the U.S. Division of Schooling confirmed Tuesday, including a brand new flashpoint within the nationwide debate over trans ladies’ participation in youth sports activities.

James Demetriades, the mayor of Cromwell, stated the city’s faculty system might lose almost $1 million in federal particular schooling funding if the division determines it’s in violation of Title IX, the federal civil rights regulation that forbids discrimination primarily based on intercourse in teaching programs or actions that obtain federal help.

The mayor, a Democrat, stated Monday the varsity district could be ineligible for the state’s athletic convention if it didn’t permit pupil athletes to compete on sex-segregated sports activities groups in step with their gender id.

He stated the district is at the moment following “all relevant state and federal regulation in addition to the principles for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Convention,” the governing physique for secondary faculty athletics within the state. In an interview on Tuesday, Demetriades stated Cromwell at the moment has “no gender numerous” highschool CIAC athletes.

“We don’t know why Cromwell was focused for this motion,” Demetriades stated in a press release on Fb. He stated the investigation additionally consists of restroom and locker room utilization.

CIAC’s coverage of permitting transgender ladies to compete in ladies highschool sports activities was first challenged in 2020 by 4 runners who stated they have been unfairly pressured to race towards transgender sprinters from Cromwell and Bloomfield. CIAC argued its coverage is designed to adjust to a state regulation that requires all highschool college students be handled based on their gender id. It has additionally stated the coverage is in accordance with Title IX.

Whereas a federal appeals court docket in 2022 dismissed the plaintiffs’ problem to CIAC’s coverage, saying they lacked standing and had not been disadvantaged of a “likelihood to be champions,” the swimsuit was later revived in 2023 and is at the moment pending. It could possibly be prepared for a trial in 2026.

The top of the U.S. Schooling Division’s Workplace for Civil Rights, Craig Trainor, stated in a press release that the investigation was taking a look at whether or not Cromwell’s insurance policies have been “depriving ladies and younger girls of equal athletic alternatives.”

U.S. Secretary of Schooling Linda McMahon added that, “This Administration will battle on each entrance to guard girls’s and ladies’ sports activities.”

A neighborhood of greater than 14,000, Cromwell is about 20 minutes south of the capital, Hartford. A rally in assist of transgender youth was deliberate Tuesday night at Cromwell Excessive College.

In 2019, throughout President Donald Trump’s first time period, the Workplace for Civil Rights launched an investigation into the coverage in Connecticut that permits transgender highschool athletes to compete because the gender with which they determine. It decided the actions of the CIAC, Cromwell and several other different communities in Connecticut resulted in “the lack of athletic advantages and alternatives for feminine student-athletes.”

Days after taking workplace for his second time period, Trump signed an govt order titled ” Conserving Males Out of Ladies’s Sports activities,” which states that each one funds from instructional applications “that deprive girls and ladies of truthful athletic alternatives, which ends up in the endangerment, humiliation, and silencing of girls and ladies and deprives them of privateness,” will likely be rescinded.

In his submit, Demetriades requested state officers to assist maintain the city innocent from legal responsibility and intervene if Cromwell is sued by the Division of Justice.

In March, the Division of Schooling opened an investigation into Portland Public Colleges, Oregon’s largest faculty district, over permitting a transgender athlete to compete on a highschool ladies’ track-and-field group.

Copyright 2025 Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials might not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Matters
Politics
Connecticut

One of many issues I like concerning the insurance coverage enterprise is that anybody—no matter the place they begin—can construct a significant, lifelong profession. I’m proof of that. In our trade, your skill to achieve your potential is a operate of your curiosity, your work ethic and your willingness to be taught and develop.

Lately, as I used to be writing a guide chronicling Crum & Forster’s (C&F’s) 200-year journey, I mirrored not solely on how a lot our trade has advanced, but additionally on how a lot alternative nonetheless lies forward. C&F’s historical past highlighted simply how vital it’s to draw and develop the following era of expertise: people who find themselves curious, targeted and keen to steer the trade into the long run.

I’m wanting ahead to sharing extra of those reflections on the 2025 Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation (IICF) Global Conference in New York. For now, listed below are a number of ideas on how the way forward for work in insurance coverage is taking form.

Insurance coverage is a Nice Profession Selection

Making ready the following era of leaders is one in all our best obligations. To develop future leaders, first we’ve got to draw one of the best and brightest into our enterprise. Insurance coverage has at all times had a fame for being “boring.” One take-away from C&F’s 200-year historical past is that insurance coverage is a troublesome enterprise, however it’s not boring.

Since most younger individuals are not contemplating insurance coverage as a profession once they graduate highschool, the trade has developed intensive self-study packages. Whereas these packages had been developed in self-defense, it’s fascinating that they make the trade accessible to anybody and permit individuals to chart their very own instructional paths.

Past guide studying, we have to present clear pathways for progress—and a giant a part of that includes real-world experiences. Essentially the most fascinating careers are constructed on the dynamic pressure created as progressive ranges of expertise and coaching meet more and more difficult assignments over a few years. The excellent news is that there’s at all times a brand new problem to deal with. Even so, younger professionals usually have a tough time seeing a transparent path from the entrance traces to the C-Suite, whereas senior leaders might not at all times have visibility into who is able to take the following step.

At C&F, I encourage individuals in any respect ranges to rise above the gang by creating an fascinating “And Plan”—getting concerned over and above their day jobs. One instance is our Model Ambassador program. The Model Ambassadors come from everywhere in the firm. They find out about C&F’s intensive product suite, they usually work on superior networking abilities. Then we ship them out to symbolize C&F at trade occasions and on native boards, together with by way of organizations just like the IICF. It’s a win-win, workers construct confidence and management abilities, and the C&F story reaches a brand new viewers.

Decentralization Creates Alternative

How can we create “Nice Place to Work” power? Our objective is to make it possible for our individuals have the chance to construct a significant profession path at C&F.

One among C&F’s key structural options is our decentralized enterprise unit construction. The concept is to maneuver from a “provide push” mannequin, the place the chief dictates the agenda, to a “demand pull” method, the place groups are accountable for fixing issues and driving outcomes.

Decentralization places decision-making energy with the individuals closest to our prospects. Our colleagues within the subject know their purchasers’ wants higher than anybody. They’re additionally in one of the best place to determine how improvements like AI can streamline workflows and enhance service.

As a result of we belief our groups and provides them actual possession, engagement and retention go up. Persons are impressed once they see the impression their selections make, which provides them confidence to take their profession to the following degree.

Constructing a Robust Hybrid Work Tradition

There’s an energetic debate proper now about the way forward for the hybrid office. As a lot as I’m a creature of the workplace, my perspective is that hybrid work buildings are the way in which of the long run. So how can we lengthen our tradition within the hybrid world?

It comes right down to intentionality. We’re deliberate about creating alternatives for connection. We now have an event-driven hybrid tradition. We spend a number of the financial savings from our diminished workplace footprint on significant worker experiences: massive group gatherings, cross-functional networking alternatives and companion appreciation occasions. We get individuals collectively who would by no means even have met in-person within the previous days. The occasions are intense and designed to construct relationships whereas fostering a way of belonging in a brief timeframe.

We additionally designate high-density workplace days which create a snowball impact the place extra individuals present up as a result of they know the workplace might be packed. Our quarterly new worker onboarding occasions are a fantastic instance. Bringing new hires from throughout the nation along with colleagues and leaders helps them really feel a part of one thing larger proper from day one.

Cultivating Philanthropy

We should always all be proud that the insurance coverage trade’s core product supplies a social good. We additionally imagine in giving again to the communities the place we reside and work. Past company giving, I imagine in empowering workers to steer grassroots efforts by encouraging them to decide on causes they’re captivated with and getting concerned of their communities.

We now have an employee-led committee that drives our charitable giving and volunteerism, choosing the organizations we help and rallying colleagues to get entangled. Initiatives just like the IICF’s Month of Giving unite hundreds of insurance coverage professionals in service and provide a robust reminder of what we are able to accomplish collectively.

Interact and Prosper

What do you see as the way forward for insurance coverage? I hope you’ll be part of the dialog. One lesson I discovered from exploring our firm’s 200-year historical past, it’s that we’re stronger once we work collectively—sharing concepts, supporting each other and constructing a brighter future for our trade.

A digital copy of Marc Adee’s guide, The As soon as and Future C&F, may be accessed at https://www.cfins.com/c&fbook.

Subjects
Trends