"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

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 with NASTC, and her presentation featured slides you can download to follow along in full via this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/document/15711911/protecting-your-fleet-from-fraud-download-the-nastc-2024-presentation

We'd recommend it, given this episode is probably an appropriate way to continue to kick off 2025 here in a year where we’re expecting FMCSA’s big move to revamp 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 to surmount in trucking, particularly for small carriers and owner-operators working spot markets.

You'll catch hear a variety of tips and tricks, ways to spot fraud in phishing emails and on fradulent rate cons and in the very voice on the phone who might purport to be even 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.

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.

As mentioned in the podcast:

**The WhatsmyDNS.net domain age lookup: https://www.whatsmydns.net/domain-age

**The "Iluminati" hack of broker DAT accounts and carrier accounts on the Amazon Relay system: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/15678337/norman-camamiles-iluminati-hack-weekend-four-amazon-runs-no-payment

**Reporting on the trade in MC numbers: https://www.overdriveonline.com/channel-19/article/15704468/your-authority-might-be-worth-30000-to-freight-fraudsters and https://www.overdriveonline.com/regulations/article/15705499/fmcsa-guidance-on-buying-and-selling-mc-numbers

**FMCSA's guidance on containing the damage after a hack: https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission/help/broker-and-carrier-fraud-and-identity-theft