Fake trucking companies are but the latest tactic being used by criminals to steal cargo reports Fleet Owner.
According to Scott Cornell, director of the Specialty Investigations Group (SIG) at Travelers Insurance – new twists in cargo theft now include breaking up stolen loads in small groupings and storing the goods in residential homes rather than all in one warehouse or storage unit.
“They are starting to shy away from using warehouses,” Cornell told Fleet Owner. “Breaking up a load makes full recoveries harder to achieve and hiding it in residential areas makes stakeouts and other law enforcement activity more difficult.”
His advice is step up your due diligence on any new company:
“If you are dealing with a brand new company, with no track record and no reference ‘pool’ of information to draw from, they need to be checked out in a little more detail,” Cornell explained to Fleet Owner. “The same goes for a carrier whose authority has lain dormant for several years and is now suddenly active.”
Cornell added that effective communication and networking within the freight transportation industry is critical to spreading the word about such new and/or altered cargo theft schemes.
“Intelligence sharing is the key to thwarting cargo thieves – communicating information quickly between the private sector, insurers, and law enforcement,” he explained.
On this side of the border the Canadian Trucking Alliance and the Insurance Bureau of Canada teamed up to launch a national online Cargo Theft Reporting Program to help expedite investigations and recovery of stolen freight .
Full Fleet Owner article here.