How technology is preventing cargo theft, the quiet crime costing billions

How technology is preventing cargo theft, the quiet crime costing billions

It happens quietly. A truck never reaches its destination. A warehouse is missing pallets by morning. A shipment, once traceable, suddenly vanishes from the system.

No headlines. No security footage worth a second look. Just empty trailers of lost goods. And whether you're a major retailer or someone just trying to buy groceries, you're already paying the price. This is cargo theft. It's one of the supply chain's best-kept secrets, and one of its most expensive, Trackonomy reports.

Defined as the criminal interception of goods during storage or transportation, it encompasses a wide range of items, including electronics, pharmaceuticals, food, beverages, and basic household goods. If it moves through a warehouse, a trailer, or a freight yard, it can be targeted and stolen.

What makes it especially troubling is how quiet these heists are. They’re not a smash-and-grab operation. They’re strategic, increasingly digital, and often hard to detect until it’s too late. And it’s no longer just a logistics issue. Stolen cargo delays shipments, inflates prices, and leaves everyday consumers wondering why the shelves are half-empty or costs keep creeping up.

In fact today, more freight is moving across longer distances, handled by more intermediaries, and tracked by more systems than ever before. That complexity has created opportunity. Not just for commerce, but for the thieves and criminal organizations looking to exploit it. Add in labor shortages, thin margins, and evolving criminal networks, and you’ve got a perfect storm for widespread cargo theft.

“The return on investment is almost 100%,” said Keith Lewis of Verisk’s CargoNet. “And if there’s no risk of getting caught, why not do it better and do it faster?”

It’s a low-visibility crime with high-impact consequences. And while it may not always make the evening news, its reach is growing, hitting closer to your life than you think.

So how do you stop a threat you can’t always see? That’s where technology is stepping in. And for the first time, the odds may finally be shifting. But before we get there, it’s important to understand just how deeply cargo theft is embedded in the supply chains we all rely on.

Why This Matters to Everyday Consumers

While these reports of stolen shipments and recovered assets may seem like a logistics problem, their impact lands squarely on the average consumer. Behind every delayed pallet or missing trailer lies a ripple effect that alters the prices people pay, the products they receive, and how quickly they receive them.

According to testimony during a recent Senate hearing on Feb. 27, cargo theft costs the U.S. economy an estimated $15 to $30 billion each year. As Sen. Todd Young noted, that burden doesn't just affect supply chains; it affects all of us.

The financial strain created by stolen goods has to be absorbed somewhere, and more often than not, that means higher prices at the checkout line. For example, after the notorious "egg heist," some grocery stores reported egg prices jumping nearly 20% percent overnight. It's a clear signal that theft doesn't just hit warehouses. It hits wallets.

Beyond the dollar signs, there’s the issue of availability. When goods disappear in transit, shelves stay empty longer.

That’s especially painful for industries reliant on just-in-time delivery models, where even a small disruption can throw off entire production schedules. Whether it’s delayed electronics, missing pharmaceuticals, or seasonal goods that never arrive, theft doesn’t just mean loss; it means lost opportunity.

There’s also the matter of trust. Consumers expect that what they order will arrive intact and on time. When companies fall short, often because of theft outside their control, customer loyalty can erode. As mentioned earlier, these disruptions affect relationships, not just inventories.

For small businesses and independent carriers, the cost of cargo theft can be catastrophic. Many don’t have the financial resilience to absorb a loss or replace stolen freight quickly. That puts additional strain on the supply network, which in turn delays recovery times for end consumers.

And there’s an environmental cost. When goods are lost to theft, they often have to be remanufactured, repackaged, and reshipped. Thus creating unnecessary waste and emissions.

Better cargo protection isn’t just a logistics priority. It’s a sustainability one.

The bottom line: Cargo theft isn’t just a freight problem. It’s a consumer problem, a cost problem, and a credibility problem. More secure supply chains lead to more reliable deliveries, more stable pricing, and a system people can count on. That’s why this conversation matters far beyond the warehouse gate.

The Scope of the Problem: Why Cargo Theft Is Growing

Cargo theft is no longer a crime of opportunity. It’s evolved into a calculated, multimillion-dollar operation fueled by complexity, anonymity, and profit margins that rival any white-collar scam.

According to data from CargoNet, 2024 marked the highest number of recorded cargo thefts in North America: 3,798 incidents, with reported losses totaling nearly $455 million. And that figure likely underrepresents the true toll. Industry analysts believe actual annual losses may exceed $1 billion due to widespread underreporting.

• Electronics remain the most frequently stolen product category, accounting for 24% of all thefts in 2024.
• Food and beverage shipments experienced a 115% month-over-month increase, a clear sign of their growing appeal to thieves.
• Pharmaceuticals, though only making up about 6% of total thefts, saw a staggering 136% increase in incidents, indicating just how lucrative these high-value shipments can be.

Even eggs aren't safe. At the start of 2025, nearly 100,000 eggs were stolen from a distribution facility in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. The load, worth an estimated $40,000, vanished from a stocked trailer on a Saturday evening. No broken locks. No forced entry. Just another shipment that never made it to its destination.

But it’s not just what is being stolen. It’s how.

Organized crime rings have become more agile and precise, deploying digital tools once reserved for financial fraud. It’s known as “strategic theft.” Criminals impersonate legitimate carriers, brokers, or freight forwarders. They infiltrate online platforms, falsify documents, and book shipments under stolen identities. By the time red flags surface, the load is already gone.

Verisk reports that strategic theft made up just 8% of cargo incidents in 2020. By the end of 2024, it accounted for one in every three. That shift is staggering, and it speaks to a broader vulnerability within modern supply chains.

“Think of identity theft,” said Keith Lewis of CargoNet. “There’s no breadcrumb trail to follow. It’s a ghost.“

And that ghost operates during the quiet moments of transport: Yard dwell time—the period when goods sit idle in trailers or warehouse lots, waiting for pickup. These moments are magnets for thieves, especially on weekends or after hours when security is thinner. And with forged credentials or spoofed GPS signals, it’s easy for imposters to intercept shipments.

In fact, spoofed GPS technology in particular has become a favored tool in cargo theft.

In late 2024, it played a key role in what’s now known as the Santo Tequila heist. Two trucks carrying an estimated $1 million worth of Santo Tequila, owned by Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar, were hijacked in a coordinated scheme involving illegal rebrokering and GPS spoofing.

The criminals used falsified documents and deceptive tracking signals to redirect both shipments in transit. Neither truck reached its intended destination.

Handoffs between brokers, shippers, and carriers present another vulnerability.

As supply chains grow more fragmented, so do the opportunities for infiltration. Each exchange is a new chance for interception. And criminals exploit that. They watch digital freight boards, impersonate company reps, and reroute cargo through systems that are often built for speed over scrutiny. With the right information, they can hijack entire operations without ever touching a truck.

“Every day, we’re seeing the bad guys trying to infiltrate our network,” said Jerry Jacobs of Prosponsive Logistics. “And our sales reps have to constantly stay vigilant. I say this all the time to my sales folks, that there’s probably a 33% chance that you’re going to be talking to someone who’s looking to steal freight.”

This isn’t petty theft. It’s global.

CargoNet has traced operations to organized crime groups across at least 32 countries. In many cases, stolen goods are resold online within days, sometimes even showing up on major third-party marketplaces at steep discounts.

Barry Conlon, CEO of the supply chain security firm Overhaul, has tracked these networks closely.

He said many of the players behind thefts are deeply familiar with the logistics industry. “They have people who are literally pulling the information off websites, scraping it, in some cases. And then they’re attacking at a chosen location once they see the product they want. And it’s literally gone into the supply chain within days.”

He compared cargo theft to a bank robbery, but with far less risk. “Rob a million-dollar load, that’s going to give you hundreds of thousands of dollars in return. And there’s literally no risk,” he said.

And because cargo theft is typically classified as a nonviolent property crime, it rarely gets the same level of law enforcement attention. Yet its impact on the supply chain is anything but minor.

Why Traditional Approaches Aren’t Enough

The tactics used in today’s cargo thefts are far from simple. They’re calculated, methodical, and increasingly designed to bypass traditional lines of defense.

However, for decades, the industry’s answer to cargo theft has relied on physical barriers: heavy-duty locks, fencing, security guards, CCTV cameras, and procedural checklists for drivers. These measures still matter, but they were built for a different era. One where brute force was the primary threat.

The problem is, these conventional strategies are limited by design. They’re labor-intensive, require constant human oversight, and only work well within fixed perimeters.

Security guards can’t monitor miles of open highway. Cameras can’t verify the identity of someone impersonating a freight broker. And even the best protocols can’t detect fraud that originates behind a screen.

As supply chains stretch across more regions, more modes of transportation, and more third-party touchpoints, the margin for error grows. And with organized crime now coordinating across multiple states and countries, reactive security just can’t keep pace.

In other words, criminals are getting smarter, faster, and more efficient.

That means rethinking what protection looks like. Static defenses alone can’t meet the scale or speed of modern cargo crime. The system now demands smarter, always-on strategies that can operate across regions and modes, without relying on outdated assumptions or manual intervention.

Because as the methods of theft continue to evolve, so too must the methods of defense. Otherwise, people are left guarding the front door while the back of the trailer disappears.

The Rise of Smart Security Technologies

While traditional defenses still have a place in modern logistics, they’re no longer enough to keep pace with the complexity and scale of organized cargo theft. What’s needed now are systems that think faster, act earlier, and adapt in real time. And across the supply chain, smart security technologies are stepping in to do exactly that.

Here are the core technologies redefining how cargo is protected.

Real-Time Tracking and Geofencing

One of the most immediate advances has been GPS-based tracking that offers continuous visibility from origin to destination.

Unlike static checkpoints or passive scanning, real-time data lets logistics teams monitor shipments every step of the way. And with geofencing, virtual boundaries can be drawn around safe routes or secure zones.

If a truck deviates from its assigned path or enters a known high-theft corridor, alerts go out instantly. That early warning can be the difference between loss and recovery.

Tamper Detection and Condition Monitoring

Modern cargo isn’t just tracked, it’s sensed. Embedded Internet of Things sensors detect signs of physical interference: light where there should be none, abrupt movement, forced entry, or even shock.

In some cases, sensors also track environmental conditions like temperature or humidity, which is crucial for sensitive goods. If a trailer door opens unexpectedly, if a package is dropped, or if conditions slip outside safe ranges, automated alerts escalate the issue before it snowballs into a full loss.

Autonomous Workflow Intervention

AI-powered platforms now play a hands-on role in security. These systems don’t just monitor, they intervene.

If anomalies arise during transit, like an unplanned stop or an unexpected route change, AI can trigger a series of workflows. That might include alerting dispatch, initiating a lockdown protocol, or dynamically rerouting the load to a secure destination. These aren’t manual processes. They happen in real time, often without waiting for human review.

Predictive Risk Mapping

While some tools respond in the moment, others work in advance. Predictive analytics fueled by AI uses historical theft patterns, weather data, traffic conditions, and regional crime trends to map out risk.

These systems flag high-risk areas before a shipment ever leaves the dock. That means companies can plan around risk, not just react to it. Adjusting departure times, rerouting deliveries, or shifting carriers based on algorithmic insights isn’t the future. It’s already happening.

Taken together, these smart tools are helping rewrite the rules of supply chain protection.

Instead of waiting to respond to theft, companies are building systems that disrupt it before it can unfold. And that shift, from passive oversight to predictive defense, is where meaningful progress happens. Not through more cameras or tighter locks, but through systems that know what to do the moment something goes wrong.

Looking Ahead: A Smarter Defense Against Disruption

It’s clear, cargo theft affects everyone from freight brokers to families. But understanding the scope is only half the story. The other half is how we fight back.

Today’s thieves may be faster, better connected, and more methodical than ever. But so is the technology rising to stop them. The future of cargo protection lies in systems that do more than monitor; they predict, intervene, and adapt in real time.

This shift is already underway. Companies like TQL and Nolan Transportation Group are investing millions into smarter prevention measures: machine learning, real-time alerts, and dedicated fraud teams that don’t just react, but anticipate.

“We take a proactive, data-driven approach, focusing on early detection and prevention to ensure the security of shipments,” said Katie Wild, vice president of marketing at Nolan. That kind of foresight is no longer exceptional. It’s expected.

At the frontlines of this evolution are tech firms like Highway, which reported blocking more than 900,000 fraud attempts in 2024, many originating from overseas networks targeting the U.S. freight system.

Their tools can flag suspicious changes to phone numbers, email addresses, and registration data before a criminal ever touches a shipment. As Highway CEO Jordan Graft explained, “It’s like a virus. Whenever an industry or a segment becomes infected, it spreads.”

Meanwhile, lawmakers are beginning to recognize the scale of the threat.

Bipartisan efforts like the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act and the Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act are pushing to equip federal agencies with the tools and authority needed to disrupt criminal networks before they escalate.

These initiatives, still pending, represent a growing realization that cargo theft is a matter of both commerce and national security.

What comes next will depend on how quickly we can align innovation with implementation.

A smarter defense isn’t about deploying more people or building higher fences. It’s about building systems that learn, adapt, and respond in real time. Systems that don’t just react to theft but prevent it from happening in the first place.

In a world where delivery expectations are measured in hours and data flows faster than freight, real-time decision-making has become the most powerful defense of all. The race between theft and technology isn’t over. But for the first time in a long time, the tools are starting to catch up.

This story was produced by Trackonomy and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.