Freight Fraud Costs: A Broker’s Evaluation Framework

Start With a Defined Review Period

Choose a period for which your records are reasonably complete. List the shipments and incidents included, along with any gaps. Keep suspected incidents separate from confirmed losses. A clear scope makes it easier to understand what the totals actually represent.

Record Direct Costs Carefully

List amounts supported by invoices, payment records, settlements, or other documentation. Distinguish the value of the cargo from the amount your business ultimately paid. Track reimbursements or recoveries separately so the same loss is not counted more than once. Ask the people responsible for accounting and claims to review the categories.

Include the Work Required to Resolve Problems

Record staff time spent collecting records, contacting shipment parties, answering customer questions, and following up on missing documents. Use a consistent method for estimating time where exact records do not exist. Label those estimates clearly instead of presenting them as measured expenses.

Separate Ordinary Operating Costs From Incident Costs

A tracking subscription, integration project, or routine check may apply to every shipment. An investigation or replacement shipment may relate to a particular incident. Keep those categories distinct when comparing your options. Include training and implementation work that your team expects to perform.

Compare Like With Like

Changes in shipment volume, cargo value, customers, staffing, or reporting can affect a comparison between periods. Record those changes before attributing a difference to one tool. A month without a reported theft does not establish that software prevented a theft.

Set Workflow Measures You Can Observe

Consider whether staff can find the latest shipment record, whether requested photos and documents are present, and whether exceptions have an assigned owner. Define how your team will measure those steps before introducing a change. These are proposed internal evaluation measures, not built-in analytics or published CargoGuard results.

Evaluate CargoGuard’s Role

CargoGuard supports driver checks, pickup photos, five-second tracking, alerts, and delivery records. Use a demonstration to see whether those tools fit the work your staff performs. Discuss pricing and integration needs through CargoGuard’s contact page rather than assuming a savings figure.

Keep Industry Figures in Context

Reported industry losses can describe a wider problem, but they do not predict your brokerage’s costs or a product’s return on investment. Consult the industry reports page for dated research and FMCSA’s fraud guidance for official operational resources. Base a purchase decision on the capabilities demonstrated and the costs relevant to your operation.

Freight Fraud Costs Should Be Measured by Shipment

When possible, connect freight fraud costs to individual shipments rather than one monthly total. A load-level record can include the cargo value at risk, replacement transportation, staff time, customer credits, recovery amounts, legal or claims expense, and any payment that had to be corrected. This prevents one large incident from hiding smaller recurring problems.

A shipment-level view also makes comparisons more useful. You can separate confirmed fraud from ordinary service failures and identify which controls were actually used on each load. That creates a better baseline for evaluating process changes without claiming that one product or policy caused every increase or decrease in loss. Review the categories quarterly and keep the definitions consistent. If the business changes how it records claims, recoveries, or staff time, note the change so year-over-year freight fraud costs are not compared using different accounting rules.