Freight fraud pattern
Fake Rate Confirmations and Bills of Lading
Fake or altered rate confirmations and bills of lading can redirect freight, misstate parties, change payment instructions, or conceal unauthorized brokering. Compare documents with the original booking record, verify changes using known contact details, do not rely on numbers inside a suspicious document, preserve the original file and message, and alert affected parties.
Audience and scope: U.S. carriers, brokers, shippers, drivers, dispatchers, warehouses, and other freight professionals.
Warning signs to check
- Logos, fonts, addresses, dates, totals, signatures, or page quality are inconsistent.
- The document changes the carrier, consignee, destination, payment account, or contact person.
- A sender uses a free or lookalike email domain instead of the known company domain.
- A party demands immediate action while preventing an independent verification call.
Preserve evidence before accounts or messages change
- Save the original rate confirmation, bill of lading, proof of delivery, invoices, dispatch records, and payment instructions.
- Export emails with headers, text messages, call logs, platform messages, login alerts, and account-change notices.
- Record dates, times, phone numbers, email addresses, URLs, IP or device alerts, DOT and MC numbers, vehicle details, locations, and names used.
- Keep originals in read-only storage and work from copies. Do not publish personal, banking, login, or identity documents.
Use the appropriate official reporting channel
The correct destination depends on what happened. FMCSA provides transportation-industry fraud guidance and the National Consumer Complaint Database. Cyber-enabled fraud may also belong with FBI IC3; suspected fraud affecting U.S. Department of Transportation programs may be reported to DOT OIG; consumer fraud can be reported to the FTC.
- Contact 911 or local law enforcement when there is immediate danger or an active theft.
- Report promptly and keep the confirmation or complaint number from every agency.
- Notify affected insurers, load boards, banks, factoring companies, customers, and business partners through independently verified contact details.
What FFVN can and cannot do
FFVN is an independent awareness and support initiative. It is not a regulator, law-enforcement agency, court, insurer, or law firm, and an FFVN submission is not an official complaint.
FFVN can publish carefully reviewed education, point to primary sources, and consider consented first-hand accounts. It does not determine guilt, recover funds, direct an investigation, or replace professional legal, insurance, security, or regulatory advice.