Have You Been a Victim of Freight Fraud?

Freight fraud is a growing problem. CargoNet, for example, "recorded 692 cargo theft events across the United States and Canada in the third quarter of 2023, a 59% increase when compared to the third quarter of 2022...Much of the increase is due to ongoing shipment misdirection attacks, a kind of strategic cargo theft in which actors use stolen motor carrier and logistics broker identities to obtain freight and misdirect it from the intended receiver so they could steal it. In total, thieves stole over $31.1 million in shipments in the third quarter of 2023."

As I wrote in September 2022 in "Who Is Actually Hauling Your Freight? (Another Supply Chain Visibility Blind Spot) ," many companies have a critical blind spot in their supply chain: a lack of visibility to the carriers actually hauling their freight and their safety records.

Have you experienced cargo theft or other types of freight fraud in the past year? How would you characterize your processes/efforts to prevent freight fraud?

Those are the questions that members of our Indago supply chain research community -- who are all supply chain and logistics executives from manufacturing, retail, and distribution companies -- are answering this week.

It's not too late to take the survey. If you're a supply chain or logistics practitioner from a manufacturing, retail, or distribution company -- and you're interested in learning from your peers and taking this week's survey -- I encourage you to learn more about Indago and join our research community . It is confidential, there is no cost to join and the time commitment is minimal (2-4 minutes per week) — plus your participation will help support charitable causes like JDRF, American Logistics Aid Network, American Cancer Society, Feeding America, and Make-A-Wish.

Indago members will receive the survey results next week.?

In the meantime, what do you believe are the biggest challenges in addressing freight fraud? Post a comment and share your perspective!

How Is 2024 Going So Far?

That was the question we explored in our last survey, which is now available for download . Here is a quote by one of our supply chain executive members:

"The supply chain in 2024 is behaving as expected for the most part, as inflation and anemic consumer demand for products remains flat in a market with ample supply chain capacity. A few bumps here and there but nothing like 2020 - 2021. We are focused on the continued implementation/integration of emerging supply chain technology to support eventual business growth and drive efficiencies without the need to grow the workforce."