Imagine a driver pulling up to your dock. Clean uniform, a bill of lading with the right PO number, a friendly “how’s it going.” Your team loads twelve pallets and waves him off. Three days later the receiver calls asking where the freight is. You dial the carrier listed on the paperwork and the number goes nowhere. The company on that bill of lading was made up, and the truck is long gone.
That’s called a fictitious pickup, and it happens more than you’d think. The holiday rush is starting, so this is a good moment to understand how it works while you still have a few weeks to get ready.
Fewer thefts, bigger hauls
CargoNet is a service that tracks cargo theft across the U.S. and Canada, and its numbers for April through June look odd at first. It logged 677 thefts, which is 26% fewer than the same stretch last year. Yet the estimated value of what was stolen jumped from $135.7 million to $304.6 million. When a theft had a reported value, the average came to about $564,000, although CargoNet says a handful of multimillion-dollar losses pulled that number up.
Metal was a favorite. Metal thefts went from 54 to 80, and copper was the most targeted of the group. Computer and networking equipment made the list too. That pattern suggests thieves are picking their targets with more care. CargoNet’s own report warns that fewer thefts shouldn’t be read as less risk, and the dollar figures back that up.
It often starts with an email
In June, the FBI’s Philadelphia office put out a warning about a version of this that begins online. It says theft that mixes hacking and fraud surged in 2025, and it cites estimated losses of nearly $725 million in the U.S. and Canada, up 60% from the year before.
The way it works is almost boring. Someone sends a phishing email, sets up a fake website, or breaks into a real company’s email account. From there they post fake loads while pretending to be a real broker or carrier, or they quietly redirect an actual shipment to an address they control. Out of those 677 thefts, CargoNet counted 158 fictitious pickups, roughly one in four. It also calls email account takeovers a primary threat.
The FBI lists a few red flags worth knowing. Look for emails from an address that copies a real company’s domain with a small misspelling or an extra word, messages from free email accounts, and calls from temporary phone numbers.
Why the holidays are the risky stretch
Over the last five years, CargoNet recorded 353 thefts, attempted thefts and fraud events between December 23 and January 2. Almost seven in ten landed in the week ending December 29, and December 23 was the worst single day. Reduced holiday staffing and areas nobody is watching make theft easier, and a loaded trailer sitting in a lot over a long weekend is an easy target.
Trucks are also getting harder to find. Carriers are turning down close to 14% of the loads offered to them, according to FreightWaves. When you’re in a hurry to find a truck, it’s easier to skip a verification step, so that’s the habit worth protecting.
Three things to do this week
The first is to confirm every pickup through a second channel. If an email changes a pickup time, a driver or a delivery address, call the carrier on a number you already had on file, never the one in the message. The FBI recommends the same thing, and it takes a couple of minutes.
The second is to write down who actually picks up your freight. Note the driver’s name, license plate, cab number, trailer number, and the carrier’s DOT and MC numbers, then compare them with what you booked. If something doesn’t match, the truck waits. That paper trail also helps if you ever need to talk to police or an insurer.
The third is to decide where loaded trailers will sit when your dock closes for the holidays. Check that your cameras record and that someone knows how to pull the footage. Try the whole process on a recent delivery now, so you find the gaps while there’s still time to fix them. If you come across a fake load or a suspicious message, you can report it to the FBI at ic3.gov.
Read your insurance before you need it
Prevention lowers the odds but doesn’t take them to zero. Before peak season, read your policy and learn how freight insurance claims work, including what paperwork they ask for. Doing that now is a lot easier than learning it after a truck doesn’t show up.
Look at your options calmly
GoShip works like a flight search for freight. You enter the shipment once, see LTL carrier rates side by side, and book online without waiting for a broker to call you back. More than 36,000 satisfied customers already ship this way, from small business shipping accounts to larger operations. Comparing carriers in one place won’t replace the checks above, but it lets you look at your choices and book on your own schedule.
If you have Q4 freight to move, request a quote, confirm each pickup the same way every time, and keep a record of who takes your freight.