Incident:  Fraudulent Tobacco Theft, Full Truckload Recovery 

On September 7th, Overhaul executed the recovery of a full truckloads of fraudulently stolen tobacco products. The carrier had uplifted from Jacksonville, FL with a destination of Dallas, TX. Remote monitoring uncovered a deviation from the logical route that indicated a pattern of behavior consistent with a fraudulent theft in progress and the LE Connect team was activated.   

The carrier and driver provided conflicting reasons for the deviation, including that the trailer was being towed back to origin due to the tractor being out of service.  

After a thorough investigation by the LE Connect team, it was determined that the trailer was in Hope Hull, AL (south of Montgomery, AL) and Law Enforcement was dispatched to the location of the trailer.  

Coordinating with the LEOs on the ground in the area, Overhaul’s LE Connect team was able to brief the officers on what to look for, allowing the officers to locate the stolen trailer despite having been repainted, remarked, and having its license plates replaced.  

A Full recovery was made and the cargo is being returned to the shipper.  

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.