DeepSummary
Keith Brown, a vice president at trucking company GMH Trans, discovered that his company's loads were being targeted by online freight scammers engaging in a practice called 'double brokering'. In this scam, a middleman takes a load from a company, but instead of delivering it themselves, they secretly subcontract the load to another carrier for less money and pocket the difference. This caused major disruption and financial losses for GMH.
Despite having solid evidence of the fraud, law enforcement agencies and regulators like the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) were unable or unwilling to take meaningful action against the scammers. Feeling helpless, Keith took matters into his own hands by setting up a website to expose suspected double brokers and call them out directly.
The episode highlights the challenges of combating online freight fraud, which costs the trucking industry at least $500 million annually. With scammers using fake identities and operating across international borders, it's very difficult for authorities to catch them. Some experts believe there are even call centers dedicated solely to double brokering scams.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Online 'double brokering' freight scams are a major issue costing the trucking industry hundreds of millions annually.
- Victims of these scams struggle to get help from law enforcement and regulators due to the cross-border nature of the crimes and use of fake identities by fraudsters.
- One trucking executive took vigilante action by setting up a website to expose suspected double brokers after getting no assistance from authorities.
- Experts believe there may even be call centers dedicated solely to perpetrating double brokering scams.
- The anonymity of operating online and ability to continuously create new fake identities makes these scams very difficult for authorities to stop.
- The scams cause significant financial losses and business disruption for victim trucking companies.
- Double brokering involves illegally re-brokering freight loads to unauthorized carriers to profit on the difference.
- The trucking industry's main regulator, the FMCSA, has been unable to adequately address the issue so far.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “So he googled us, found a phone number, called me, and basically asked how he ended up with our load through this third party. And that's when we kind of started digging.“ by Keith Brown
- “That was extremely disruptive. We would run into different customers of ours that we've worked with for 1015 years, all of a sudden said they couldn't work with us.“ by Keith Brown
- “Upwards of 100,000 easily.“ by Keith Brown
- “People are getting very frustrated. Carriers like Keith are finding themselves alone with no help. Once they get defrauded, once the cargo gets stolen and their business is at risk, they have almost no one to listen to them to try to fix this.“ by Indy Pacheco
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Episode Information
The Journal.
The Wall Street Journal & Gimlet
4/19/24