Cargo theft in 2026 is less about someone cutting a lock in a parking lot and more about someone posing as a party the shipper already trusts. Verisk CargoNet counted 677 incidents in the United States and Canada in the second quarter of 2026, 26% fewer than a year earlier. Estimated losses went the other way and more than doubled, to $304.6 million.
For anyone moving urgent, high value freight, the useful question is not how often theft happens. It is where in the life of a shipment the opening appears and what the carrier does at each of those points. This post goes through the scenarios CargoNet describes this year and the carrier habits that close each one.
What the 2026 numbers say
- First quarter: 767 supply chain crime events, down 5.3% from Q1 2025, with estimated losses of $131.58 million, essentially unchanged
- Second quarter: 677 incidents and $304.6 million in estimated losses, against $135.7 million in Q2 2025
- Fictitious pickups held steady: 158 in Q2 2026 against 165 a year earlier, while events classified as theft fell from 488 to 378
- Targets: metal theft rose from 54 to 80 incidents, and organized groups kept going after enterprise computer and networking equipment
Fewer incidents and bigger losses point the same way. In the words of Keith Lewis, vice president of operations at Verisk CargoNet: “The groups driving the largest losses are not necessarily trying to steal more freight; they are trying to identify the right shipment.”
Five ways a load goes missing
The carrier on the phone is not the carrier
CargoNet’s Q1 analysis describes credential harvesting: phishing campaigns and remote access trojans used to take over business email accounts, internet based phone systems and the apps carriers and brokers use to find loads and prove who they are. With those credentials, a criminal network “can operate as the legitimate carrier, accepting tenders, communicating with logistics brokers, and redirecting loads.” The shipper sees a familiar name, a valid authority and the right email domain.
What closes it: one known contact for the whole move. When the carrier names the person coordinating the load at booking, any new voice or new email address claiming to speak for that carrier gets checked with a call back to the number you already had, not the one in the new message.
A bought carrier picks up and never delivers
The second method in the Q1 report is buying a real motor carrier outright, through social media, peer to peer marketplaces and brokerage services. The authority, the safety record and the reviews are all genuine. Only the owner has changed. In Q2, CargoNet recorded fewer of these non delivery schemes, especially in California and Texas.
What closes it: checks that look at change, not only history. A long record says little if the phone numbers, email domain or office address changed last month. Compare what the carrier gives you now with what you had on file from earlier loads.
The delivery address changes after pickup
This one gets past every check done at booking. CargoNet’s Labor Day analysis puts it plainly: “A criminal who changes a delivery address or contact after pickup can bypass controls that focus only on carrier selection.” In Q2, business email compromise and shipment misdirection “continued at steady levels” even as other methods declined.
What closes it: treat any change to the consignee, the address or the delivery contact as unconfirmed until a person you already know confirms it by phone. Email alone does not count, because the email account may be the thing that was compromised.
High value load on a hard deadline?
Send the pickup, the delivery, the freight and the deadline. We’ll confirm a dedicated vehicle and your direct contact for the run.
Loaded freight sits still
CargoNet saw fewer organized thefts of unattended, loaded trailers and containers in Q2, with less of that activity in South Florida and Dallas Fort Worth. It has not gone away. The Labor Day report describes “physical exposure created when loaded freight sits at rest during closures or schedule disruptions.”
What closes it: fewer hours at rest. A dedicated truck that runs from pickup straight to delivery does not wait in a terminal or a drop yard for the next linehaul. On long runs, a team that drives in shifts keeps the truck moving instead of parked overnight. Our guide to expedited trucking services covers when a straight truck, a dedicated van or a team driver fits the run.
Valuable freight that looks ordinary
Enterprise grade computer and networking equipment, components and crypto mining hardware may be worth several million dollars per shipment. CargoNet notes these loads “frequently move through the supply chain as conventional dry freight, creating a significant mismatch between their financial value and their ordinary transportation and security profile.”
What closes it: tell the carrier what the freight is and roughly what it is worth before the quote, not after. The vehicle, the route and the stops can only be planned around a value the carrier knows about. Keep the details of the load to the people who need them.
Timing matters too
CargoNet looked at 273 thefts during Labor Day periods from 2021 through 2025. The holiday weekend itself was quiet. Thursday, Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday around it accounted for 194 of the 273 incidents, or 71%. CargoNet links that pattern to deceptive pickup and non delivery schemes, which “depend on live staff, active phone lines, and freight moving through normal business channels.” The same report warns of “verification exposure created when reduced staffing and time pressure make it easier for a criminal to impersonate a trusted carrier.”
What to ask an expedited carrier before a high value move
- Contact: who coordinates the load from booking to delivery, and how do I reach that person directly?
- Handling: does the freight stay on one truck from pickup to delivery, or is it transferred or cross docked?
- Stops: will the truck stop on the way, and where?
- Visibility: how will I see where the truck is, and how often will you update me?
- Changes: how do you confirm a change to the delivery address or contact?
- Pickup: which driver, truck and trailer should my dock expect, so we can match them before loading?
- Paperwork: what records do I get at pickup and at delivery?
How Starbriges runs a sensitive load
Starbriges runs dedicated expedited freight on ground equipment from cargo vans to straight trucks, matched to the load and the window. A dedicated straight truck carries up to 44,500 lbs, is assigned only to your shipment and runs direct from origin to destination with no stops and no shared space. You get a direct contact once the shipment is confirmed and keep that person from dispatch to delivery, with real time tracking and updates along the way. Dispatch is live 24/7.
For pharmaceutical and medical freight, the medical service adds chain of custody documentation from shipper to receiver: pickup confirmation, transit records and delivery signature.
None of this makes a load theft proof. It cuts the time freight sits still and the number of people who can plausibly claim to speak for it. To plan a high value move, send the pickup, delivery, freight description, value and deadline through our expedited shipping page.