How FMCSA’s new rules are reshaping carrier trust amid increasing cargo fraud

Before 2020, the prospect of using a new carrier was more of a safety consideration than a fraud concern. After 2020, however, the fraud landscape started to change quickly. Strategic cargo theft has spiked 1,500% since the first quarter of 2021, forcing freight brokers and shippers to rethink how they vet carriers. Many began viewing new relationships with carriers, especially those with no inspection or history of carrying loads, as red flags at high risk for fraud.

But now, the rules are changing, and we may want to consider “new authority carriers”—newly established trucking companies that have obtained their federal operating authority—as some of the more trusted entities on the road. In April 2025, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) started implementing some of the most significant anti-fraud initiatives in years.

New FMCSA rules reshape carrier trust

FMCSA’s new identity verification process requires new commercial driver applicants to match their government documents with a facial scan. There’s also a new requirement for applicants to provide a valid physical business address, instead of a virtual address (e.g., P.O. Box, USPS box, Staples address, etc.). These changes might sound simple, but they’ve introduced a level of traceability that didn’t exist before.

Right now, as the new rules continue to roll out, they only apply to new applicants. That’s helping to change the tide of who brokers and shippers can trust. With the identity of new carriers being properly vetted by FMCSA, the risk of engaging a new authority is minimized, and it’s opening a new pool of resources that legitimate carriers can afford to work with.

While these new requirements have started to make a difference, cargo fraud remains an issue, surging to record levels in 2024. In fact, in the second quarter of this year, CargoNet reported a 13% increase in cargo theft compared to the same period last year. The cost of cargo theft is being passed down to consumers, too, with theft fueling retail price increases and costing the U.S. economy up to $35 billion a year.

Evolving fraud tactics and tech responses

This continued rise in deception has been changing the relationship between shippers and carriers. In some cases, shippers are cutting out brokers and working directly with carriers, ditching the middleman in hopes of having more control over the vetting process of who is shipping their products.

At the same time, the strategies thieves are using are getting more sophisticated. Organized rings are using tactics like double-brokering and manipulated bills of lading (BOL) to disguise theft as legitimate transactions. Another tactic is using “chameleon carriers” that seem like normal carriers but, beneath the surface, have a history of illegal activities, safety violations, or noncompliance. To avoid detection, they “camouflage” themselves in different ways (e.g., using unbranded trucks to quickly disguise themselves as a different carrier, or changing their name, address, and related details), making it difficult for shippers and law enforcement alike to spot them.

In some cases, thieves offload part of a shipment mid-route, alter the paperwork, and still deliver enough to avoid suspicion. With no obvious red flags at delivery, inventory discrepancies often aren’t discovered until months later. The gap in timing makes it harder for law enforcement to track down thieves and more complicated for brokers and shippers to understand and report what happened in a timely manner.

Unfortunately, some technology is also making cargo fraud more sophisticated and harder to detect. AI-generated phone calls are being used more frequently to try to scam brokers about a load they’ve posted. One way to figure out if you’re talking to a real person or a robot is to ask an unexpected question or even crack a joke. Have you ever heard AI try to laugh? It’s a dead giveaway.

On the other hand, technology innovations are helping to combat cargo theft. FMCSA’s moves to modernize registration systems are a step in the right direction, and the momentum to put better protections in place needs to continue. Digitizing BOLs, for example, would make it harder for criminals to alter paperwork and eliminate the gap that lets fraud go undetected for weeks or sometimes months. The latest episode of Fraud Girl: Tell Me Everything takes a closer look at BOL manipulation and cluster theft—one of the fastest-growing threats in logistics.

While real-time freight visibility technologies are table stakes for tracking loads and ensuring carrier compliance, granular visibility insights into individual carriers are invaluable for determining risk profiles, building a reliable and reputable network, and enabling early detection of fraud. With capabilities that enhance pre-tender visibility, brokers and shippers can also gain deeper insights into a carrier’s history, assets, and reliability before tendering a load. For example, advanced technology can provide a comprehensive footprint on each carrier, highlighting any red flags around insurance, lane history, vehicle identification number (VIN) validation, or past tracking compliance issues.

There’s no way to stop fraud outright, but there are ways to try to get ahead. As the tactics and technology thieves are using continue to change quickly, the logistics tech industry also needs to continue innovating and upgrading its systems to help ward off another year of record-breaking losses.