When people talk about cargo theft, most of us picture a truck stopped on the highway. There is another version that needs no weapons and no violence: someone poses as a real trucking company, gets the shipment assigned to them and drives off with the goods while the paperwork checks out. These are the so-called fake carriers.
How fake carriers operate
The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) and the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA EMEA) warned a few months ago that these groups use front companies, the identities of legitimate firms, stolen credentials and forged documents. The goal is to be assigned a transport job through legitimate channels, show up for the cargo and vanish.
What makes it hard to spot is that everything looks normal. There is a transport order, documents and contact details, and there are even insurance certificates backing the supposed carrier. The weak point appears before the vehicle ever reaches the road, at the moment someone decides who gets the cargo.
Why fake carriers are on the rise
The fraud is growing in step with the digitalization of freight booking. Online platforms and load boards connect shippers, intermediaries and carriers quickly, which helps a lot during demand peaks or urgent dispatches. However, the same speed leaves less time to verify.
The techniques are simple. In Hungary, for example, the MKFE association warned about emails that imitated well-known companies by changing a single letter in the domain. In Spain, meanwhile, the industry reported that fake carriers try to pull the negotiation out of the platform’s chat and into WhatsApp or phone calls, where it is easier to apply pressure and harder to leave a trace.
What the numbers say
Germany and Spain are where the problem has been measured best, so their figures are the clearest reference.
| Indicator | Figure | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Ghost carrier cases in 2022 | 80 | Germany |
| Ghost carrier cases in 2024 | 266 | Germany |
| Losses in the first half of 2025 | About €17.5 million | Germany |
| Identity impersonation cases involving household appliances | 42.9% | Spain |
A case: the GPS that gave the gang away
In Cologne, Germany, a logistics operator lost a shipment worth about €125,000 that never reached its destination. Two weeks later, because it suspected the pattern would repeat, it placed a GPS tracker on the next load. That signal let police stop the truck, recover more than 200 pallets and arrest three people. The case backs up what experts keep saying: the goods are usually high value and easy to resell, such as electronics and consumer products.
Can it happen in Colombia?
We know of no public reports of this scheme in the country, but the conditions that make it possible are already here.
The first is how freight gets booked. Cargo transport in Colombia is now also arranged through digital platforms: one of them reports more than 2.1 million dispatches and 47,000 active drivers. That speed helps operations and, at the same time, leaves less time to verify who receives the cargo, which is exactly the gap fake carriers exploit.
The second is that impersonation fraud has already shown up in the region. In 2022, El Financiero documented cases in Mexico of impostors posing as experienced truckers, recommendation letters included, to get hired and then steal the cargo. It is a different variant from fake carriers, but it starts from the same idea: getting the goods handed over through the front door, without forcing anything.
The third is that the cargo stolen here is the same cargo fake carriers go after abroad. According to figures cited by Asopartes, Colombia recorded 163 land piracy cases in 2024 and 101 in 2025, and what criminals take most is tech products, home appliances and consumer goods, as well as tires and spare parts. In July 2026, for instance, on the Buenaventura-Bogotá corridor, police recovered a tractor-trailer carrying 495 computers worth more than COP 3.2 billion, and the case involved GPS signal jamming to avoid tracking.
Who gets the cargo: the decision that matters
Since those three pieces are already in place, the scheme can reach Colombia.
The Logistics World puts it well: the challenge builds up. On top of route, custody and tracking, there is one more decision to make, which is who gets the cargo. Therefore, anyone who books transport in a hurry, by email or WhatsApp and without validating, leaves open the same door that criminals are using in Europe.
Colombia has a control tool that helps a lot with that decision: the National Registry of Cargo Dispatches (RNDC, by its Spanish acronym). It lets users look up a driver by ID number and a vehicle by license plate. In addition, the shipper must verify and confirm the information the carrier registers. Used for real, and not as a formality, it is one of the most concrete defenses the sector has.
Warning signs
- A profile created only a few weeks ago, or an inactive company that suddenly shows a lot of activity.
- An email domain almost identical to the original, with one letter changed or added.
- Last-minute changes to the vehicle, plate, driver or delivery instructions.
- Pressure to close the deal over WhatsApp or by phone, outside the agreed channels.
- Willingness to accept almost any rate just to win the job.
- Contact details that do not match the ones already on file, even if the company name looks right.
Controls that reduce the risk
- Verify the carrier on every shipment, not just at onboarding, because a legitimate company’s details can be spoofed later.
- Confirm email and phone through an already known channel, especially if they changed.
- Cross-check the driver’s identity and the vehicle’s plate against what is registered in the RNDC.
- Validate insurance certificates directly with the insurer instead of relying on the document received.
- Use satellite tracking on high-value cargo and share the tracking with whoever is contracting.
Who verifies your carrier
Every link in a shipment adds a point of exposure: inland transport to the port, warehouses, subcontractors. When each one is booked by a different person, controls end up scattered and one is easy to skip. Verification on every service is what stops the fraud before the truck arrives to load.
How Fenix handles it
At Fenix, we bring that work under one roof. We coordinate the transport of your cargo and take care of verifying the carriers on every service, so you do not have to check emails, plates and drivers yourself.
If you are about to move a shipment, leave us the part that carries the most risk.
Get a quote with FenixSources consulted
The Logistics World: Fake carriers engañan a la cadena logística y convierten confianza en riesgo
trans.info: Ghost carriers cost Germany €17.5m in six months as freight scams surge
trans.info: Un GPS destapa a falsos transportistas: tres detenidos en Colonia
Infobae Movant: España alerta por el avance del robo de cargas mediante falsas identidades
trans.info: Cuidado con los correos electrónicos falsos. Un error puede costarte toda la carga
trans.info: Falsos subcontratistas en el transporte por carretera
El Nuevo Siglo: Piratería terrestre afecta cadena de abastecimiento del país
Infobae: Asopartes pide blindar carreteras ante robos de carga que golpean abastecimiento nacional
El Financiero: Se roban la carga al suplantar la identidad de camioneros
Portafolio: FletX, ecosistema digital colombiano que revoluciona el transporte de carga
