Talkin’ Turkey
November 27, 2024
Ghosts in the Machine
Whoa. Our friends at Transportation Intermediaries Association are drawing attention to the spike in fraud affecting the industry.
The methods? Identity theft, unauthorized brokering, direct cargo theft and “other means that bad actors employ to dupe brokers and industry partners.”
The cost? Nearly $1 billion.
TIA points to advances in artificial intelligence and the bad guys’ ability to tailor it for these acts of theft. As is usually the case, the ability of the attackers has started strong, with counter-measures striving to keep up and go from reactive to proactive.
Part of that strategy is regulatory. Bills like The Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act, designed to give the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration restored power to combat registration fraud through developing ways to monitor and issuing civil penalties when bad actors get busted.
The Owner-Operator Independent Driver Association issued a press release in September, after the bill passed committee. In it, they pinpoint the issue:
Problem: Professional truckers have been telling the U.S. Department of Transportation for decades about inadequate broker regulations that are rarely, if ever, enforced. This has resulted in an inequitable economic environment for truckers, especially small-businesses who are victimized by unscrupulous brokers and other fraudulent entities. The current regulatory framework limits fraud enforcement, enables bad actors to operate with impunity, and forces out drivers who want to build sustainable trucking careers.
Solution: The Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act restores and codifies FMCSA’s authority to issue civil penalties against bad actors. The legislation also requires that brokers, freight forwarders, and carriers provide a valid business address to FMCSA in order to register for authority.
The wheels of justice move slower than 18-wheelers. Here’s to no traffic jams for both laws and lanes.