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A new target for organized crime - shipping.  Businesses should use care in the selection of carriers. Thieves are forging shipping documents when picking up cargo from customers.  Then they disappear.  Thieves are posing as legitimate trucking companies that fool brokers into hiring them for jobs.  They pick up the cargo but never deliver it.  A theft operation was uncovered in California that has stolen 200 truckloads of goods.  Some shipping thieves cover their bases and register with federal authorities as a new company and then steal as much as they can before they can be audited.  Given the rise in the online marketplace, targeted goods can easily resold like electronics.

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Businesses should carefully scrutinize a shipper's paperwork.  Some organizations are refusing to hire any trucking company in operation less than 90 days to avoid fradulent truckers that quickly show up then disappear.  Many operators use sensors that can track cargo in transit and alert shippers in any deviation in planned routes. 

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For help in the verification of trucker ID's, shippers can contact services like Carrier411, TIA Watchdog, Convoy and CargoNet.