What do I do if a load gets stolen?

The first hour: confirm and contain

A late load is not always a stolen one. Call the carrier on the phone number on its FMCSA record, not the number you were given, and check any tracking you have. If you cannot reach the carrier you booked, or it tells you it never took the load, treat the load as stolen.

The FBI notes that a compromised carrier may not realize anything is wrong until brokers contact it about missing loads booked under its authority. So if the real carrier tells you it never booked the load, that fits the pattern the FBI describes and is not a reason to doubt your report.

Hold any payment to the carrier on the rate confirmation until the facts are clear, and do not act on emailed changes to delivery addresses or payment details.

Who to report to, and what each does

• Your local police department. The FBI asks victims to file police reports for stolen cargo with their local police department. Keep the report number for every later conversation. If the theft happened in another state, ask your police department which agency should take the report, because this differs by situation.
• The FBI, through ic3.gov or your local FBI field office. IC3 analysts research complaints and pass them to law enforcement and partner agencies as appropriate. IC3 does not investigate, will not contact you about the status of a complaint, and leaves any investigation to the agency that receives it. If your matter is time sensitive, the IC3 FAQ says to contact local law enforcement directly.
• FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database. FMCSA describes it as an online interface for filing complaints against unsafe and unscrupulous companies, including transportation intermediaries. Use it to tell FMCSA about a company that misused its registration; it is not an emergency line.
• Your customer and your insurer. Notify them as your contracts and policy require. Notice deadlines and claim steps differ between policies, so read yours rather than assuming.

Records to gather now

• The rate confirmation, the carrier packet and the FMCSA record you checked, with the date you checked it.
• Every email, text message and call log, including full email addresses and phone numbers. The FBI recommends keeping contact and communication details for all parties.
• Photos and details from pickup: driver, license, vehicle, plates, cab and truck numbers, and the DOT and MC numbers.
• The bill of lading as issued and any later versions. The FBI describes criminals providing manipulated bills of lading and changing the load’s destination.
• Your transaction record. Brokers must keep a record of each transaction, including the consignor, the carrier’s name, address and registration number, and the bill of lading or freight bill number, for three years, and each party to the transaction has the right to see that record.

IC3 also asks complainants to keep any evidence related to their complaint.

Lock down your own systems

The thefts the FBI describes often begin when someone at a broker or carrier clicks a link in a spoofed email, which installs remote monitoring and management software and gives the criminals access to the company’s systems. After a theft, check whether that happened to you: look for remote access software nobody installed on purpose, and for new mailbox rules that forward mail outside, delete it automatically or move it to hidden folders.

Change passwords from a clean device, turn on multi-factor sign-in for email and load boards, and check your own FMCSA registration and load board profiles for changes. The FBI notes criminals change carriers’ contact information with FMCSA as part of these schemes.

If someone asks for money

The FBI reports that criminals posing as a carrier sometimes come back to the broker demanding a ransom for the location or details of the load. Tell the police and the FBI before you respond.

Be careful with anyone offering to recover your money for a fee. IC3 says it does not work with any non-law-enforcement entity, such as law firms or crypto services, to recover lost funds, and that it will never contact you directly for information or money.

Step by step

1. Call the carrier on the phone number on its FMCSA record and check tracking.
2. File a police report with your local police department and keep the report number.
3. File a complaint at ic3.gov or contact your local FBI field office.
4. Notify your customer and your insurer as your contracts and policy require.
5. Gather and preserve the records listed above.
6. Check your email, computers and accounts for intrusion, and secure them.
7. If a carrier or broker misused its registration, file a complaint in FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database.
8. Afterwards, find the step where the impostor got through and close it. How to spot a fake carrier.

How big the problem is

The FBI reports that estimated cargo theft losses in the United States and Canada reached nearly $725 million in 2025, a 60 percent increase from 2024, while confirmed incidents rose 18 percent. The average value per theft rose 36 percent to $273,990.

What to watch out for

• Paying the carrier invoice for a load that never delivered, or paying a “new” bank account sent by email.
• Losing evidence. Do not delete emails, texts or call logs from the people involved, even fake ones.
• Fake recovery services and anyone claiming to work with IC3.
• Repeat attempts. A company that was impersonated once can be impersonated again, so watch for new contacts using the same names.