Incident:  Fraudulent Electronics Theft, Recovery, and Arrest 

Last night, Overhaul executed the recovery of a load of consumer electronics that had been fraudulently taken from a shipper in Southern California.  

The fraudulent carrier, posing as a large legitimate carrier, arrived at the shipper’s location with a magnetic placard on the tractor doors and the license plate zip tied to the grille. Local law enforcement contacts confirm that while not all magnetic placards and zip tied license plates are illegitimate, fraudulent carriers will often have multiple placards and license plates in their cab. These indicators should warrant further investigation at the origin.  

After departure, while still in the Red Zone, the Overhaul GSOC noted a pattern of behavior that indicated either double loading or fraudulent theft in progress and activated the LE Connect team.  

The LE Connect team’s real time investigation revealed that the tractor had several other subtle red flags. For example, while the USDOT number on the placard was accurate to the name presented, the logo was different from what appears on the carrier’s website. Calls to the carrier dispatch based on matching SAFER and carrier website information confirmed even more red flags, including an improper number of digits in the tractor unit number and the license plate being of the wrong state. This confirmed to the LE Connect team that this was indeed a fraudulent theft in progress.  

The LE Connect team contacted the California Highway Patrol Cargo Theft Interdiction Program (CHP CTIP), who confirmed that one of the locations where the shipment had stopped was under investigation. CHP and the private Overhaul Response Team were both provided historical locations of the shipment as well as live tracking links enabling the real time monitoring of location and sensor data by the officers on the ground.  

After a diligent search, which lasted 8 hours, the CHP CTIP located the stolen cargo as it was being offloaded into a box truck. An arrest was made involving someone who was not the original driver, and the product on site was recovered.  

Overhaul would like to recognize and thank the California Highway Patrol Cargo Theft Interdiction Program for their hard work and dedication in pursuit of this stolen cargo and criminal actors within the supply chain.  

Overhaul recommends that shippers of targeted and high demand or high value products be extremely thorough in vetting brokers and carriers in their network, as well as documenting all drivers, tractors, and trailers that arrive to pick up cargo with thorough pictures that include all identifying markings on the tractor/trailer, as well as the driver and his CDL. It’s important to verify that the information being documented matches the information provided prior to the driver’s arrival.  

Particularly in regards to strategic or fraudulent theft methods, contextual intelligence, remote compliance monitoring, real time visibility, and an immediate escalation process with a path to effective law enforcement engagement are critical to recognizing and recovering stolen cargo.