The Swiped Stuff, Part III

Ounce of Prevention, Pound of Cure

We’ve been exploring retail theft and cargo theft. The bad guys are all-too clever, which has caused retail outlets ⏤ from mom-and-pop shops to big box stores ⏤ to put swaths of merchandise under lock and key.

Theft from warehouses and commercial vehicles seems at first a very different scenario. Bay doors of the warehouse are necessarily porous: the cargo’s gotta get in and get out. Because there are people waiting: receivers, refiners, other carriers, outlets, end users.

Travelers, the insurance company, lists five types of cargo theft:

1. Straight Cargo Theft. Thieves target areas such as truck stops and parking lots.

2. Strategic Cargo Theft. A more sophisticated approach, where the bad guys produce bogus paperwork, identity theft, fictitious pick-ups, or combinations of these to create confusion and get away with the goods.

3. Technology. Thieves use “sniffers” that find covert GPS signals, then jam the signals to make for a cleaner theft that’s much less likely to be tracked.

4. Cyber. That seemingly innocent, safe email with a link that you click? There’s a trojan horse in there, malware that lets the bad guys into your company’s database for their manipulation of loads.

5. Pilferage. Maybe the most curious entry in the list, this is the seemingly small thefts along, say, a route with multiple stops. Those small swipes add up.

With each of these categories, Travelers recommends awareness of actual and virtual surroundings. That might seem simple, and maybe even simplistic. Yet, it’s often the simple things that allow for greater protection and greater chance of a non-eventful delivery of freight from Point A to Point B.

Double-checking the lock on the back of the truck. Double-checking that you locked the cab. Confirming the GPS locator is active and pinging the right dispatch coordinator. Doing your best to confirm your contact person as legitimate.

Sometimes it’s out of our control. Sometimes it’s preventable. So much of theft prevention relies on communication and trust.