Fighting Freight Fraud with Highway

We spoke with Demi Ramon, Operations Director at Highway, and Michael Caney, Chief Commercial Officer at Highway, to examine the company’s recently released report on Q3 freight fraud trends, today’s risk environment, and to outline how brokers, carriers, and shippers can each contribute to stronger protection measures.

According to Demi, fraud tactics have evolved far beyond stolen identity and falsified documents– bad actors are now becoming more sophisticated, targeting physical driver operations and digital broker systems, as well as third-party platform spaces. 

“I think that the current landscape is shifting risk more downstream lately, and just from carriers being the primary target to brokers and digital intermediaries becoming the focal point really quickly.”

Compared to Q3, Demi says she has observed brokers become the new target for fraud networks, as carriers have improved their data security. She urges companies not to be passive:

“Don't be a sitting duck, don't be an easy target - enable two-factor authentication, put something in there, some sort of safety net. If you move into a really bad area where there are break-ins happening every single day, you don't leave your front door unlocked and open.”

Fraudsters are constantly studying new data patterns, monitoring which brokers and carriers engage with shipment types, and map out opportunities for theft at a very sophisticated level.

In Demi’s opinion, the industry is still too trusting in terms of who they work with and who they share their data with. Brokers should now treat digital identity protection with the same cautiousness carriers apply to physical cargo security.

Michael believes that there are bad actors paying carriers to click a fishing link and inform Highway that they got hacked, later splitting the revenue from the stolen load with them. 

“We see page views of certain users at certain freight brokers grow right out of certain carriers, and then all of a sudden those carriers are implicated in fraud, and it's like, ‘Wait a minute, why all of a sudden did this user and this broker suddenly look at these five carriers over and over?’.

Those users are sharing the carrier data with the bad actor or even helping the bad actor directly. Which is why, Michael explains, we can see more broker attacks over the last month or so. They're evolving to try to figure out what data third parties are observing. They're trying to do it in fishing attempts, with a mole in the system. 

Fraud is not new — it’s just how access to documents is gained that’s changed.

“You are in a different time now. You’re not just putting freight on somebody’s truck, giving them a handshake, and buying them a cold one when they get back. That’s not what it is anymore.” 

Demi's advice? You need to treat digital identity the same way that you treat personal security.

Why has freight fraud become so prevalent? Michael believes that a combination of increased automation, as well as insufficient training, has contributed to the problem:

“I think we automated the wrong things. We made everything about what’s being posted."

So what needs to change? Training at brokerages must become part of the culture.

New fraud has led Highway to tighten its security measures.

With their new Trusted Freight Exchange platform, Highway aims to counter fraud and improve transparency, as well as bring trust, control, and speed to modern freight. The platform was created exclusively for vetted brokers to access compliant, identity-verified carriers and for verified carriers to access real loads from trusted brokers. 

Carriers who follow compliance standards gain additional tools to manage and protect their own digital identity profiles.

How can brokers prepare for where things are headed, and what should you do to prepare for the next year? Demi boils it down to three things.

“Shared intelligence across platforms - fraud alerts, behavioral reports, etc. Encouraging education at every level: on a driver, dispatcher, and broker level - we all play a part in safeguarding freight. My last piece to this would be: freight security is now cyberphysical – if data is compromised, your freight is next.”

The message is clear: be vigilant and be prepared.