Every day, hundreds of thousands of trucks move the lifeblood of North America’s economy—food, medicine, building materials, and consumer goods—along an increasingly digital supply chain. Yet behind this movement lies a growing threat that costs the U.S. economy billions each year: cargo theft and freight fraud.
What was once limited to physical theft at rest areas or terminals has evolved into sophisticated cyber-enabled impersonation schemes, where criminals pose as legitimate carriers or brokers, steal freight on paper, and disappear before the first mile.
According to CargoNet’s 2024 Supply Chain Risk Trends report, cargo theft incidents jumped 27% year-over-year, with an average loss exceeding $200,000 per case. The National Insurance Crime Bureau estimates total cargo theft losses of up to $35 billion annually, a figure that doesn’t capture the downstream losses in trust, time, and customer confidence.
And while fraud may start with one bad tender or fake carrier profile, its impact cascades across the entire industry—affecting carriers, shippers, brokers, insurers, and platforms alike.
“Cargo theft isn’t just a carrier issue,” shared Joe Ohr, chief operating and technical officer for National Motor Freight Traffic Association, Inc.® (NMFTA)®. “It’s a business-continuity issue for the entire freight ecosystem. Every stakeholder has skin in the game when trust fails.”
A Shared Threat Demands a Shared Response
The freight industry operates on trust and that trust depends on identity. When a carrier’s credentials can be easily faked or misused, every link in the chain becomes vulnerable.
Fraudsters exploit these gaps through fictitious pickups, double brokering, and identity impersonation, targeting both large carriers and small independent operators. Yet no single company or platform can solve the problem alone.
That’s why NMFTA has made freight fraud and cargo theft prevention a priority by advancing new tools, data-sharing initiatives, and education programs to help the industry close its most critical trust gaps.
NMFTA’s Leadership: A Legacy of Standards, A Future of Security
For nearly 70 years, NMFTA has served as the steward of the Standard Carrier Alpha Code ® (SCAC)®, the universal identifier required for carriers operating in the U.S. and across borders.
This gives NMFTA a unique position of authority and neutrality—not as a commercial vendor, but as a standards body representing the entire freight ecosystem. NMFTA’s mission has always been to develop and maintain the identifiers, codes, and digital standards that keep freight moving safely and efficiently.
Now, NMFTA is extending that same trusted foundation into the fight against fraud by turning the SCAC into something even more powerful: an identity-verified trust signal for the digital age.
“By binding a verified identity to every SCAC lifecycle event, we’re making impersonation and fictitious pickups dramatically harder to pull off,” said Holly Taylor, director of product for NMFTA. “It’s about giving the entire industry a stronger, shared signal of trust at the moments that matter—before freight changes hands.”
The Evolution of SCAC: Verified Identity for a Modern Industry
NMFTA now requires a one-time identity verification for all new and renewing non-Class 8 SCAC applicants.
This marks a pivotal shift:
- Non-Class 8 carriers are now part of a digitally verifiable system that links their SCAC to a confirmed individual identity.
- Class 8 carriers continue under the existing SCAC process, where identity is confirmed through their US DOT number.
The result is a stronger, safer operating environment for everyone, from independent box-truck operators to major shippers and brokers.
This new system, known as SCAC Verified™, offers an ID-verification component and transforms the code from a simple identifier into a universally checkable trust credential. It’s privacy-respecting (status-only, no personal data), platform-friendly (via API and directory lookup), and designed to integrate seamlessly into existing workflows.
In other words: SCAC = Trust, Verified.
Building the Industry’s Defense Together: The Freight Fraud Prevention Hub
The identity-verified SCAC is just one piece of NMFTA’s broader effort to fight cargo theft and fraud. To help the industry act collectively, NMFTA and its founding Hub partners have launched the Freight Fraud Prevention Hub—a centralized destination for tools, education, and data-driven insights.
Within the Hub, visitors will find:
- Practical guidance on how freight fraud happens and how to stop it before it starts.
- Red flags and warning signs to help identify suspicious activity across the supply chain.
- Educational content designed for carriers, brokers, and shippers at every level.
- Curated resources and industry insights to support stronger verification and risk mitigation practices.
The Hub serves as both a knowledge base and a rallying point, highlighting that shared education and shared data are the foundation for a more resilient supply chain.
“Fraud thrives in the gaps between us,” shared Ohr. “When we close those gaps—through shared standards, transparency, and collaboration—we protect not just freight, but livelihoods.”
Why NMFTA Is the Right Organization to Lead
NMFTA’s leadership in this space is grounded in its neutral role, technical credibility, and decades-long stewardship of industry standards.
Unlike any single company or platform, NMFTA operates on behalf of the entire freight ecosystem—carriers, shippers, 3PLs, and technology partners alike—offering research, education, and advocacy in:
- Digital standards development (via the Digital Standards Development Council® (DSDC)™ ).
- Cybersecurity research and guidance.
- Freight classification and packaging standards.
- And now, fraud prevention through SCAC Verified and the Hub.
NMFTA has proven it can convene the right stakeholders—law enforcement, insurers, platform providers, and private fleets—and unite them around a common goal: safeguarding the supply chain through shared standards and verified trust.
The organization’s credibility stems from its track record of creating neutral, widely adopted frameworks, not commercial products, but industry utilities that make freight operations more reliable, secure, and efficient.
How the Industry Can Act Now
Because freight fraud is a shared problem, the solution must be a shared effort. Here’s how every segment can participate:
| Who You Are | What You Can Do Today |
| Carriers (Non-Class 8) | Complete your SCAC (ID-Verified) verification. Protect your business and open the door to more trusted partnerships. |
| Carriers (Class 8) | Keep your SCAC active and participate in Fraud Prevention Hub webinars and training. |
| Brokers & 3PLs | Begin filtering for SCAC (ID-Verified) carriers in your onboarding systems. |
| Shippers & Private Fleets | Adopt SCAC verification language in your contracts and tenders to reduce fraud exposure. |
| Platforms & TMS Providers | Integrate the SCAC Verified badge and status API into carrier search results. |
| Insurers & Sureties | Collaborate on incentive programs for verified carriers and share anonymized risk data with NMFTA. |
| Associations & Nonprofits | Partner with NMFTA to educate your members through webinars, PSAs, and co-branded materials. |
The Road Ahead
Cargo theft and freight fraud won’t disappear overnight, but it can become unprofitable and unsustainable when the entire industry unites behind verified standards and shared vigilance.
Together, we can make cargo theft harder to execute, easier to detect, and ultimately, a relic of the past.
Visit the Freight Fraud Prevention Hub at freightfraudhub.com to access tools, playbooks, and verification resources that help strengthen the entire freight network.
