No shipper is immune to freight fraud; even Food Network star Guy Fieri has been a victim of double brokering and cargo theft. But the logistics industry is keeping pace with freight criminals by leveraging expertise and technology to fight fraud and ship efficiently.
Here’s an inside look at how Shaker uses the digital tool Highway to protect our customers from fraud while we keep their freight moving.
How does freight fraud happen?
Whether it’s cargo theft or payment fraud, freight fraud occurs when one actor in the supply chain isn’t who they appear to be. Criminals use data scraping, email phishing, identity theft, and double brokering to impersonate real carriers or 3PLs and gain access to cargo or sensitive information.
In a double brokering case that reached the mainstream news, two truckloads of Guy Fieri’s special batch tequila for Santo Spirits were stolen in a double brokering scheme. The logistics company working for Santo Spirits hired a carrier to move the tequila, which quietly outsourced the job to two other trucking companies – textbook double brokering. These additional trucking companies were fake carriers set up by a criminal organization, which then hired legitimate drivers to unknowingly deliver the tequila to the criminals’ warehouse.
The repercussions of schemes like these can be devastating for the legitimate carriers, 3PLs, and shippers involved. Losses and damage can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars; manufacturers could be left without critical supplies; trust cultivated over years of partnership can be irreparably damaged.
Carrier vetting is the first line of defense against fraud, but it requires time and resources that most shippers just don’t have. 3PLs like Shaker can leverage industry experience, dedicated teams, and specialized resources to vet carriers and fight fraud on a daily basis.
Highway to a safer supply chain
Highway, a platform designed to help 3PLs connect with legitimate carriers, is quickly setting a new industry standard for safety and efficiency.
“Since implementing Highway, we have more peace of mind on every load,” said Chris Launsbach, Carrier Services Manager at Shaker.
Chris manages Shaker’s national network of carrier partners and communicates with prospective and longtime partners every day. Historically, Shaker’s carrier vetting process included manually verifying a carrier’s official documents and using several online tools to cross-reference MC and DOT numbers. With Highway, carrier information is collected in one place, and verified at the push of a button.
“We now have real-time visibility into carrier capacity, compliance, and identity risk, which lets us book with confidence and avoid problems before they happen,” said Chris. “It’s taken the uncertainty out of vetting and made our entire operation more secure, efficient, and proactive.”
How does Shaker use Highway to fight fraud?
Identity theft is the most common tactic scammers use to gain access to freight or sensitive information, so robust identity verification protocols are used to stop fraud before it begins.
Carriers onboarding with Highway must submit documentation to verify their identity and active operating status, including cab cards (to verify interstate operating authority), certificates of insurance, copies of driver CDLs, vehicle identification numbers (VINs), and in some cases, records of payment for fleet equipment.
Highway also requires carriers to connect their ELDs (electronic logging devices), giving Shaker real-time visibility into fleet size and equipment activity. If a carrier reports a 30-truck fleet, but only three vehicles appear in the system, that discrepancy triggers a closer review from our team before they’re trusted with a shipment.
Shaker’s own fleet is onboarded with Highway, giving us firsthand insight into how the platform improves security, speeds up operations, and benefits every link in the supply chain.
How does Shaker use Highway for more efficient shipping?
Increased visibility protects freight, but it also streamlines the shipping process. Instead of searching for capacity across multiple platforms or relying on manual tracking updates, our team can confirm availability instantly and help shippers move cargo faster.
“Say a shipper is moving locations from New York to Tennessee. Before Highway, we’d spend hours contacting individual carrier partners to see if they have trucks available along this lane. Now, we use Highway to search our carrier base in real time for trucks that are in the right position for our customers,” said Chris.
Carrier onboarding also becomes streamlined, allowing our customers to start projects sooner. Whether a shipper needs hazmat-certified reefers with high safety scores to move specialty chemicals or requires a carrier with newer assets to reduce the chance of breakdowns and service failure, Shaker’s team can quickly identify the right partner for any complex project.
What once required laborious manual vetting and multiple communication touchpoints now happens in moments. And because of Shaker’s high standards for carrier partners, quality is never sacrificed for speed.
Shaker uses Highway as a force multiplier, expanding our reach and enhancing carrier onboarding, as well as helping shippers move faster with more visibility. While technology strengthens our speed and security, it doesn’t replace the expertise, passion, and relationship-centered focus of Shaker’s team.
“Our relationships with skilled and trusted carriers are a big part of what helps us serve our customers at such a high level,” said Chris. “Technology, along with our tried-and-true processes, keeps shippers safe from fraud every time they ship with Shaker.”
Connect with our team today to see how our vetted carrier network and technology-backed processes can help you move ahead.