The Changing Risk of Cargo Theft

8th September, 2026

Verisk CargoNet tracked 273 cargo theft and trucking-vehicle theft incidents across five Labor Day periods from 2021 through 2025, with an estimated $31.8 million in stolen commodity value. The number of incidents rose from 33 in 2021 to 56 in 2025, while California, Texas, and Illinois accounted for 130 incidents, or 48% of the total. Cargo theft losses also exceeded $359 million during the first half of 2026. FreightWaves

The nature of the risk is changing alongside the systems used to coordinate freight. According to FreightWaves’ report on the CargoNet analysis, criminals can gain access through compromised carrier accounts, email systems, business phone lines, and compliance platforms, then alter delivery instructions on loads already in transit. The legitimate carrier may have passed the necessary checks and taken possession of the freight, while the information being used to complete the delivery has already been manipulated. FreightWaves Yahoo News

That makes the gap between verification and delivery increasingly important. A carrier can be legitimate when a shipment is tendered, pass the relevant checks, and still become part of a compromised transaction later if its account or communication channel has been taken over, while altered delivery instructions or shipment information can appear legitimate to the broker, shipper, or consignee receiving them. 

The problem is therefore not limited to determining whether a carrier is legitimate at the beginning of a shipment. The information surrounding the shipment has to remain trustworthy as it moves through the network, particularly when contact details, delivery instructions, routing information, or other shipment records change after the initial transaction has been established. 

As a shipment moves through multiple systems and parties before reaching its destination, there are more opportunities for information to be altered, credentials compromised, or fraudulent instructions introduced without being immediately detected. Physical security can protect the goods themselves, but it cannot prevent a shipment from being redirected when the information controlling its movement has already been compromised.

The opportunity lies in the infrastructure around that problem. Systems that continuously verify carrier identities, authenticate shipment instructions, monitor changes in freight information, and detect unusual communication or routing patterns can help brokers, shippers, and carriers identify a compromised transaction before a load is redirected or stolen.

The businesses addressing this need sit across logistics software, cybersecurity, identity verification, fraud prevention, and risk management, but their value comes from solving a specific operational problem within freight. 

The strongest solutions are unlikely to add another disconnected security process to an already complex workflow. They will need to work within the systems freight operators already use, using the information generated during normal shipment activity to identify changes that warrant attention without requiring teams to manually verify every interaction.

That makes trust an increasingly important part of freight infrastructure. The network depends not only on trucks, warehouses, brokers, and carriers, but also on the accuracy of the identities, instructions, and information connecting them. When any of those can be compromised without being detected, the integrity of the transaction becomes as important as the physical security of the goods.

Cargo theft will continue to involve physical theft, but the systems governing freight are becoming part of the attack surface as well. As more of the movement of goods depends on digital communication and shared information, businesses capable of keeping those interactions trustworthy will play a larger role in how freight is moved and protected.