Cargo thieves take advantage of tech advances

While technological advancements in air cargo continue to streamline the industry, cargo thieves are seeing new opportunity. Strategic cargo thefts tripled from the first quarter of 2023 to the second quarter, increasing from 8% to 24% of total theft occurrances , according to the most recent data from cargo theft risk-management software provider Overhaul . Strategic thefts are complex thefts of deception using advanced methods. Criminals are becoming more sophisticated in their practices, and this is driven by technology, Danny Ramon , intelligence and response manager at Overhaul, told Air Cargo Next. In fact, cargo thefts drastically increased overall, with a 57% second-quarter increase year over year, according to data from Cargonet , a Verisk company. [caption id="attachment_57136347" align="alignright" width="300"] (Credit: Can Stock)[/caption] While most criminal rings are “a little behind the curve” of technology advancements in the industry, they understand the supply chain and the increasing importance it plays and, in turn, benefit from this knowledge, Ramon said. Strategic thefts are “a much more technologically involved process. There are dozens if not hundreds of different nuanced ways to perform this,” he said. “But basically, you can create a legitimate trucking company, register it with the [ U.S. Department of Transportation ], get a motor carrier number, legitimately learn the process and gather paperwork to use as templates in your forgeries. [The thieves have] advanced their methods; they’re able to get away with more, more quickly now.” The best way to mitigate such theft is continued visibility, Ramon said. Overhaul’s software traces shipments in real time while monitoring patterns for fraud. An alert is sent to a shipping company if a potential theft occurs, Ramon said. Intermodal vulnerability While airports remain fairly well-protected, intermodal points of transfer are most vulnerable, he said. Public awareness is increasing but criminals are also paying attention, Ramon said. “One of the negative consequences of awareness is it creates awareness among the criminal community as well,” he said. “So, we did see a lot of the spread of large-scale pilferage, committed by local thieves in areas where there is the largest intermodal presence in the supply chain.” This includes states with major ports, such as California and Texas. Illinois also fell within the top three regions for cargo theft in the second quarter. The average loss value of a single theft incident was $428,409 in the second quarter, Overhaul reported. This is up 46% from the previous quarter. However, that number could be skewed based on the number of companies that volunteered losses, Ramon said. In the first half of the year, energy drinks were heavily targeted because of their resale value, Ron Greene , senior vice president of the Intel & Fusion Center at Overhaul, previously told Air Cargo Next . However, the company reported that electronics have become the latest hot commodity, Ramon said. “We’re seeing a lot of phones, televisions, computers [being targeted],” he said. “For quite a while now we’ve just been coming out of this electronic shortage. And it looks like we might be on the horizon of another electronic shortage, this time driven by artificial intelligence. You know, all these companies are buying up all these chips to power their AI calculations. And that’s what’s starting to cause another chip shortage.”

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