Yesterday, October 17, Overhaul executed the recovery of a
load of televisions worth US$239K that had been fraudulently
stolen from a shipper in Ft Worth, TX.
The fraudulent carrier arrived at the shipper’s location with a
magnetic placard on the tractor doors, and the license plate
zip tied to the grille at chest height. Local law enforcement at
the origin advised that even though the carrier had only one
registered unit and driver per USDOT, four identical tractors
were observed at a local yard, indicating fraudulent activity.
Communicating with the carrier and driver, both told the
Overhaul GSOC that they were in route for an on-time
delivery and provided a location that was not in line with
device readings.
Intelligence, coupled with patterns of behavior indicating a
fraudulent theft in progress, led to the activation of the LE
Connect team and a recovery effort was initiated.
Coordinating with the Moore (Oklahoma) and Oklahoma City
PDs, the LE Connect team was able to provide real time
locates and sensor data to law enforcement officers on the
ground, allowing them to locate the shipment in short order
and execute a full recovery.
Overhaul would like to recognize and thank both the Moore
and Oklahoma City Police Departments for their hard work,
cooperation, and dedication in pursuit of this stolen cargo.
Of note in this instance is the use of advanced strategic theft
M.O.s typically seen in California being practiced in Texas.
Additionally, no arrests were made in this recovery, meaning
that the crew targeting freight for fraudulent theft in the DFW
metroplex is still at full capacity.
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 as you verify that the information being documented
matches the information provided prior to the driver’s arrival.
Particularly with 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