“Theft increased 1,445 percent from the first quarter in 2022 to the first quarter in 2024.” —Kathleen Dasal, retired from the Ansonia commercial credit bureau
Kathleen Dasal presented at this past November’s annual conference of the National Association of Small Trucking Companies – and emphasized that huge increase in cargo theft over these last years, aided and abetted by organized crime rings’ increasingly sophisticated use of our digital communications tools to perpetuate all manner of frauds on carriers, brokers and increasingly shippers themselves. That’s as you’ll hear in today’s edition of Overdrive Radio, featuring Dasal’s talk. She keeps her feet firmly planted in small fleet issues, and her presentation featured slides you can download to follow along in full via this link.
I’d recommend it, given this episode’s subject is a wholly appropriate way to continue to kick off 2025, during which we’re expecting FMCSA’s big revamp of its registration system to finally get off the ground, and the identity and double-brokering fraud issue continues to be one of the biggest difficulties in trucking, particularly for small carriers and owner-operators working spot markets.
Download slides from Dasal’s anti-fraud presentation to follow along.
In the podcast, Dasal offers a variety of tips and tricks, ways to spot fraud in phishing emails and on fraudulent rate cons and in the very voice on the phone who might purport to be someone you know, or at least to be from a company you know. For regular Overdrive readers, a lot of the anti-fraud measures Dasal speaks to might be refreshers, of a fashion, yet many share a central point that you can make part of your New Year’s Resolutions for the business this year.
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In Kathleen Dasal’s words, “You’ve got to just pay attention to who your customer is, and know who you’re doing business with.”
There’s a lot owner-operators can do in that regard, if you’re not already working closely with central, trusted brokers; leased to a reputable motor carrier; or doing direct business with shipper customers. Take a listen:
Overdrive Radio’s sponsor is Howes, longtime provider of fuel treatments like its Howes Diesel Treat anti-gel and Lifeline rescue treatment to get you through the coldest temps, likewise its all-weather Diesel Defender and Howes Multipurpose penetrating oil, among other products.
**The WhatsmyDNS.net website-domain-age lookup.
**The “Iluminati” hack of broker DAT accounts and carrier accounts on the Amazon Relay system.
**Reporting on the trade in MC numbers for spurious purposes, and FMCSA guidance on it.
**FMCSA’s guidance on containing the damage after a hack.
[Related: How to beat brokers at their own game and win direct freight]