There are many times I think I've seen a lot of crazy stuff in this industry, but the opportunities that exist for fraudulent activity and scams teach me new things bad actors can do every day.
I go over:
I can guarantee, nobody has gone through this in this fashion and in this much detail to not just protect our customers, but to protect our fellow brokers and carriers we work with. If you see this information anywhere else, it's because someone decided to copy it. If you find this guide useful, link to it and share it. It may save your business and reputation.
On this alert I'm calling up one of the oldest scams. But now more rampant than ever. At the end of this guide, I'll go over what to do to stop this practice in its tracks for both carriers and brokers alike.
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WARNING: If you are anyone you know is running this scam or even thinking the the ridiculous idea to do so, understand because not only is it done with a government license, but you are ALSO committing a crime across state lines! This means this is Federal. Such as Federal Wire Fraud, Financial Fraud, Identity Theft, and Insurance Fraud. You WILL 100% get caught and you WILL face serious jail time! Whether it's $5,000 or $500,000, does not matter. The FMCSA is on the hunt for these people and it's easy pickings. So if you are reading this for an education, know that it will not end well and we are leaving a lot of things out so you cannot try this.
What the FMCSA Says:
Fraud and identity theft occurs when entities use another motor carrier’s assigned USDOT number, when not authorized to do so, or when someone acts as a broker and is not registered with FMCSA. Fraud and identity theft are criminal acts.
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission/help/broker-and-carrier-fraud-and-identity-theft
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Double brokering is a fraudulent practice in the auto transport industry (and overall in the logistics industry) where a company listed on the dispatch boards accepts a load from a legitimate broker and then re-brokers (or subcontracts) it to another carrier without the original broker and customer's knowledge or consent. In the most cases, this leads to unpaid carriers and/or higher prices than agreed at delivery for you, even damage that cannot be claimed. It's now used to steal high end luxury vehicles.
A carrier account and another broker account is what is used for this scam to work. A legitimate broker gets a new booking. They list the vehicle on the national dispatch boards. As normal, broker assigns a car to a carrier that by all things considered, are legitimate. So if the broker does their homework, all looks like it's in good standing. Broker unknowingly nominates fraudulent carrier as the best fit for their customer. But they are obviously wrong.
There are 2 methods for how this takes place.
A brand new carrier account shows up on Central Dispatch or any of the other boards. These boards have an internal review system. Aside from licensing and insurance, brokers look at reviews from other brokers to assess the company further. These outfits will usually have zero reviews or may five or eight reviews. If they have any, they will be from 1 or 2 broker accounts that are also brand new and likely controlled by the same people who run the fake carrier account.
The brand new carrier account begins to troll the dispatch boards, usually for high end or expensive cars that are worth a lot of money. They call brokers offering to pick up these vehicles for the posted price. They are looking for new, inexperienced, (or negligent brokers that don't verify credentials) to send them these cars.
Once the order is accepted, the falsified carrier company uses a falsified broker account to re-list the vehicle and post it to the boards again, this time for a price any carrier will jump on. However, it won't be going to the real destination. It will be a COD (cash on delivery) so the carrier won't necessarily care about the broker ratings because with COD, if delivery location does not have a payment, then no delivery. But in only thinking about if they will get paid, the carrier has made a mistake. Carrier has no idea they are being used as an instrument to ship a car to a theft ring. Carrier delivers, gets paid, moved on.
Another common way this works is hacked credentials. As mentioned, the key for is always the carrier account for this scam to work. And if they get their hands on a highly rated carrier account that went out of business, hasn't noticed they were hacked, or stopped operating, there is less scrutiny. These are the hardest to detect, but there is a sure-fire way to prevent it from working. In fact one simple step prevents all of this. I'll get to that later.
Another way credentials are stolen is by pretending to be a carrier that is now has "decided" to be on the dispatch boards. Some carriers do not work on the dispatch boards and work for insurance companies, dealers, and not the public.
The fraudulent person may have figured out how use their existing credentials to log on to dispatch boards or managed to circumvent the fail safes in place to verify the identify of the carrier. For example, at one point making a subtle change on the FMCSA profile, they can then contact Central Dispatch or any other board and say they'd like to reactivate or sign up. Real carrier has no idea they are on the boards. This front accepts loads to then re-broker them with the fake car shipping broker company they control to divert vehicles to another destination.
Tip: More recently, this crime ring has figured out how to update information on the FMCSA, contact the dispatch boards and convince them to update contact info for a company that has possibly even closed down. If you are a broker or carrier, check your profile regularly!
For this to work, another broker company needs to exist as carriers are not allowed to list cars.
In some cases, the criminal will have found a failed broker company, update the information on the FMCSA, and reactivate the broker account. If they are lucky it will be a well reviewed broker. The reason the crime ring wants an account like this is trust from carriers to do payment terms for which they will never be paid for. They will then start assigning vehicles to carriers with 5,10,13, or 30 day payment terms to not only steal the cars but steal them for free.
In the most advanced cases, this even involves identity theft of an individual. The con artist will open a new broker company with stolen personal information. They will put up the bond and even pay the license fee under the unknowing victim's name.
Although they are busy stealing your car, there are costs involved! That's right. To add insult to injury, the car thieves would like to get paid the money they paid the truck driver to steal your car for them!
With some extra steps, this can be done easily. A smart car shipping company will educate their customer.
When the carrier calls to verify pickup, customer must ask carrier company's name. Make sure it's the same name that is on your dispatch email. When they show up, check the info on the truck. Check the MC and DOT numbers. Do they match what was sent to you? For example, In that email our company sends to customers, we ask this to be done for your protection.
If the company picking up is NOT the same one REFUSE pickup, and contact your broker immediately. Then call the police.
When the carrier calls to shows up to the pickup, customer must ask also ask who hired them. For example, if it's us here at NX, then that is exactly what the carrier will say. If not, stop the pick up and call whomever you did business with, and see if they a part of a different company or different name. If not, halt the pick up, call the police.
If the broker named on the order is not the one you are working with, REFUSE pickup, and contact the company you are working immediately along with Police. In this case there is little doubt it's double brokered, especially if even more does not add up. Read on.
If the address named on the order is not the one you are shipping to, REFUSE pickup, call police, and inform the company you hired. In this case there is little doubt it's double brokered, especially if even more does not add up.
Check Carrier ratings! Everyone has the right to start a new business, but be careful of new carriers.
Check their reviews from other brokers. Go the FMCSA check and verify their insurance. Here's an example of a brand new carrier calling to accept loads, but they already have a pending insurance cancellation. Likely a scam carrier.
Brokers, inform your customer. Tell them that they must verify the carrier you assigned them. Give them the contact phone numbers, MC number and DOT number. Insist the customer inform the pick up contact who is getting the vehicle to do this, if it is not the person booking the order. There is no reason the truck should belong to anyone else.
Doing this by phone is not useful, as a phone call can be made to your customer by anyone. However, when the carrier arrives, customer is to ask driver what company they are and what broker hired them. In a double brokering scam, either one or both company names will be totally different. If any of the information does not match your dispatch you gave to customer, have your customer call you immediately to clear the details.
Inform your customer of the payment breakdown. For example, "Your total price is $1,000.00. We have charged a deposit of $250.00. Your balance due at delivery in the form of cash, cashier's check, money order or Zelle is $750.00." In this example, you will encourage your customer to verify BEFORE pickup, the amount due and form of payment you have provided.
Customer should be held responsible for who they release the vehicle to. This helps not only for double brokering scams, but if the customer booked with multiple companies without realizing it. Known as double booking.
Carriers suffer the biggest loss in double brokering scams so I will be very detailed here. In a double broker scam, the elicit party collects all the funds, and leaves the carrier with a huge loss of time and money along with undue scrutiny.
Use two-step verification, text verification, passkeys, or whatever higher security options are available on your board credentials so they are not stolen and used to funnel loads to scammers. Try to use an email you only work with for administrative functions, not your common email you hand over to everyone.
On the dispatch board, just as carriers like you have a rating, so does the broker. Be mindful of companies with very little rating history or that have just opened. Everyone has a right to start a business, but be cautious about taking broker payment terms. Check their ratings and carrier comments. Ask yourself, how would a new broker be moving a half million dollar car?
Some of these crime ring broker accounts are even trying to steal the money you as the driver are making to unknowingly steal a car! The BMC-85 broker bond normally protects you if the carrier does not pay. They fund up to $75,000.00 in delinquent driver pays. Even worse, the bond company may not pay if the bond was opened using identity theft! However, if they do pay, that can fill up quickly because there are many times that claims take time to start. Carriers can be too patient and brokers can be too good at providing excuses for delaying payment. By the time everyone realizes what is going on , there could over $100,000 in payables to carriers. This can happen in just weeks depending on how much business the fake broker is doing illicitly.
Call the bond company on file. Not the one on the central dispatch board, which could be out of date. Check the FMCSA, pull the MC. FInd the bond company. Call them. Ask them if there are claims coming in. Although this can mean claims have not started, you'd be surprised how fast they do when it begins.
If you are concerned that you may not get paid by the carrier, gut instinct, or whatever you reason, do not call the listing or ask if they can change it to C.O.D. Sometimes it is broker pay because customers insist on using a credit card. If you as a carrier accepts credit cards, you can tell the broker that you allow credit card payments so they don't need to collect it.
Since the illicit broker has zero intention of paying you, they will offer the moon and the stars as far as pricing. So if you have a load that normally pays $1,000 is paying $1200, $1500, or even a lot more, ask yourself why. Is the customer in a hurry? What's the broker making if the driver pay is so high? Are they moving cars hardly worth the price paid? If you accept the dispatch, call the customer, ask them about their move. It's not too late until you are on your way.
Questions go a long way. Before going out there, ask the broker's customer if they are aware of the payment terms. Ask them what they are. If the pick up does not know, the delivery person will. If the customer tells you it's C.O.D. and your order says paid by broker, ask the amount due at delivery. If your order says you get $1500 after delivery and they tell you they paid $800 for the whole thing, for sure it's a double broker scam.
When you arrive at pick up, verify the phone numbers on your load. Does the pick up and delivery contact know the people listed and their phone numbers? Sometimes with double broker scams, the scammer will put fake contact phone numbers and then call pretending to be you to relay information.
If you are being paid by the broker and the customer tells you they had to instant transfer the balance to the broker or another company before delivery, or the day of delivery for you to "be allowed to drop off" then for certain they would be no reason for the broker to pay you later if you could have easily taken that instant transfer directly in same fashion.
Why would the broker need to take a payment after they guaranteed your payment to you on the dispatch contract? What if the customer fails to pay? Your contract says you must deliver and get paid in "x" days. There should be no reason you need to stop while you wait for another payment to the broker that you could have taken yourself. The broker is either trying to pay old invoices with your money, or they are double brokering. If the customer is paying far less to them at delivery and have only been charged a small deposit so far, the math tells you that you will likely not see a dime. Cancel and don't pick up!
If the broker is supposed to be NX Automotive Transport, for example as per customer and you have another broker on your dispatch, then customer either double booked with more than one broker or it's a double broker car theft scam. Especially if the numbers and payment terms do not add up.
When you show up at pick up, talk to the pick up person. Ask them what the delivery address is. Get their full contact information. If anything is out of the ordinary, cancel the load and move on.
Return the vehicles. If you cannot return them logistically, do not deliver them to the location you suspect is fraudulent. Call anyone but the numbers on your dispatch sheet, as they are likely all tied to the same people. Their goal is to isolate the real contacts. If you have any contact info for any party you met in person, ask them to give you the information for the broker they really hired. Have them officially dispatch it to you. If real customer shows you a contract for a C.O.D. less than your funds promised ,it is best to cut losses and get paid less instead of nothing. Have the real broker re-dispatch it to you as C.O.D.
What the FMCSA says:
If you picked-up or hauled a fraudulently brokered load, identify who is paying the freight on the load and ask to be put in contact with their brokerage service. In many cases, the real broker of the load is also a victim of fraud or theft and is not involved in the illegal transaction. Holding loads hostage until you get paid is illegal.
https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/mission/help/broker-and-carrier-fraud-and-identity-theft
Not only are you armed with how this works, you know that regardless if you are the end customer, a broker, or the carrier, you will stop this dead in its tracks. If everyone does their part of checking and verifying information, there is no way the scam can work. The extra unaauthorized party will be easily exposed. Even if the scam did not succeed, do you part and report the fraud to the FMCSA!
Carl brings over a decade of proven expertise in the auto shipping industry, with hands-on experience in nearly every aspect of the business since 2014. From dispatching and sales to customer service and operations, he has built a 360° understanding of how vehicle transport truly works.
As the driving force behind NX Automotive Transport’s website, Carl is both the author and strategist behind the educational content and guides that thousands of customers rely on to make informed shipping decisions. His mission is to raise the standard of honesty and transparency in auto transport, not only by leading NX’s content and customer education, but also by mentoring and training others in the industry.
Carl’s unmatched depth of knowledge, combined with his dedication to fair and straightforward practices, makes him one of the most trusted voices in auto transport today.
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