Airforwarders Association executive Brandon Fried calls for a coordinated international response to combat rising cargo theft
Cargo theft is no longer just America’s problem. It has become a global plague on supply chains.
Whether it is organised truck fraud in the US, violent hijackings in South America, or sophisticated load-board scams in Europe, the same story repeats: thieves exploiting fragmented logistics systems and outdated vetting processes while legitimate operators pay the price.
At the Airforwarders Association (AfA), we have created a Truck Fraud Task Force to tackle what has become one of the fastest-growing threats to airfreight forwarders.
The modern thief rarely uses a crowbar. Instead, they use laptops, posing as legitimate carriers, hacking dispatch systems, or intercepting loads through falsified identities. Freight can disappear long before it reaches an airport gate.
The trend is not limited to one region; it reflects a global shift. A recent survey of AfA members found that eight in ten forwarders have seen a significant rise in organised theft and cyber-enabled fraud over the past year.
This sharp increase reflects the growing sophistication of criminal networks and the urgent need for a coordinated response across the logistics sector.
Unfortunately, enforcement remains fragmented. In the US, overlapping jurisdictions and limited federal coordination leave forwarders and trucking partners largely to fend for themselves.
Abroad, we hear the same complaints from colleagues in Canada, the UK, and across Europe: law enforcement lacks the cross-border visibility and digital tools to keep pace with organised crime rings that know no national boundaries.
AfA strongly supports the creation of a coordinated national cargo theft task force under the US Department of Homeland Security, and we believe similar joint models should be mirrored internationally.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Interpol, and national trade associations must share intelligence faster and build interoperable fraud-reporting systems that track and stop bad actors before they strike again.
This urgency is magnified by the current operating environment. Border backlogs, labour disruptions, and tariff shifts are stretching supply chains thin. Every delay - at customs, ports, or warehouses - creates new vulnerability windows for theft. Criminals exploit chaos, and right now, there is plenty to go around.
While many issues facing global logistics are beyond the industry’s control, there are others we can address together. Cargo crime is one of them. By collaborating across borders and modes, we can close the gaps that organised thieves exploit.
We have the technology. Digital identity verification, blockchain-based shipment tracking, and carrier-vetting platforms already exist, and they work. But technology without collaboration achieves little.
Forwarders, airlines, ground handlers, and trucking companies must share data and adopt uniform vetting standards globally. It is time to stop guarding information and start guarding freight.
Cargo crime is not an inevitable cost of doing business. It is a solvable challenge - if we fight it together. The thieves are organised, tech-savvy, and international. The logistics industry must be too.
