Last week, the Alexandria, Va.-based Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) threw its support behind legislation passed by a key Senate committee focused on combatting freight fraud.
The legislation, entitled the “Household Goods Shipping Consumer Protection Act (S. 337) and led by Senators Deb Fischer (R-NE) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), was unanimously passed by the Senate Commerce Committee, with TIA calling it a critical bipartisan effort to strengthen federal tools to combat fraud in the freight marketplace.
“This bipartisan legislation gives FMCSA much-needed tools to protect consumers from fraud in the interstate shipment of goods,” said TIA President & CEO Chris Burroughs, in a statement. “With freight fraud costing the industry an estimated $35 billion annually, this bill equips the agency to protect consumers, businesses, and the supply chain. We thank Senators Fischer and Duckworth for their leadership in addressing this growing crisis and helping restore integrity to the freight network.”
The chief objectives of the legislation focus on restoring and enhancing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) authority to address fraud and deceptive freight transportation practices, and providing FMCSA with what TIA called essential enforcement areas, including:
- accessing civil penalties for unauthorized brokerage activity;
- enforcing the principal place of business requirement; and
- examining commonalities among companies registering for operating authority
This legislation was introduced by Fisher and Duckworth in January. Identical legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton (DDC) and Mike Ezell (R-MS)
“Since 2021, there has been a 1500% percent increase in cargo theft incidents, costing the industry $35 billion annually,” Sen. Fisher said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the legislation last week. “S. 337 allows FMSCA to impose civil penalties against unauthorized brokers. Additionally, it would require companies in the household goods sector to establish a principle place of business to prohibit fraudulent companies from skirting existing regulations. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation will give the FMCSA the tools needed to protect consumers from fraud by scammers in the interstate transportation of household goods.”
Going forward, TIA said that with the bill now reported out of Committee and added to the Senate Legislative Calendar, it represents a crucial first step in the legislative process, with TIA continuing to work with Senate and House champions—Representatives Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) and Mike Ezell (R-MS) —to move the legislation toward full passage and implementation. TIA also added that including this measure in the upcoming Surface Transportation Reauthorization would deliver long-term protections for the industry and strengthen overall supply chain resilience.
Earlier this month, a report issued by TIA highlighted the ongoing issues freight brokers continue to deal with, relating to freight fraud.
Findings for the report, entitled “State of Fraud in the Industry,” are based on TIA member survey and incident data from its Watchdog platform, with TIA observing that brokers continue to deal with staggering losses, increasingly complex scams, and a lack of support from federal law enforcement agencies and regulators.
The report is replete with various findings in regards to how freight fraud is taking a toll on freight brokerage operations, from both a financial and operational perspective. For example, TIA said that 22% of the report’s respondents reported more than $22,000 in fraud-related losses over the past six months, with 10% of respondents saying they have spent more than $200,000 on fraud prevention efforts.
Other key findings in the report included:
- Truckload freight remains the top target, with 97% of respondents citing it as the most fraud-prone mode;
- 34% of respondents labeled unlawful brokerage, in which criminals pose as legitimate brokers to steal loads or payments, as the most common scam, targeting small businesses, disrupting the entire delivery process, leaving freight stranded or stolen, and driving up costs and consumer prices;
- 83% of respondents have experienced at least three types of fraud in the last six months;
- Freight fraud is occurring nationally, with Texas, California, and South Florida among the states where fraudulent activity originated;
- Based on TIA Watchdog data, there were more than 1,600 reports of fraud between September 2024-February 2025, a 65% increase;
- Based on data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, cargo theft costs the industry up to $35 billion annually, for a 1,500% increase in incidents since 2021; and
- 96% of TIA respondents have reported dedicating time each quarter to managing fraud-related incidents with many tied to cargo theft
In an interview with LM, TIA President & CEO Chris Burroughs said that in looking at TIA’s role in combatting fraud, from an advocacy perspective, the report serves as an educational piece on what freight fraud is, as well as its true impacts.
“When you go to a member of Congress’s office and talk about freight fraud or double-brokering or unlawful brokerage activities, I think those members are certainly sympathetic to that,” he said. “But if you can put it on a granular level, in terms of a specific example with a company, or a particular shipper, within their district that has been impacted [by freight fraud], it resonates more with them and then you can really start digging into the data. We are going to continue to highlight this from an advocacy and general education perspective, in terms of the latest tactics these criminals, or fraudsters, are looking to continue to utilize to gain access to freight. They are very well organized and very smart.”
What’s more, Burroughs pointed out that these criminals like to target items and commodities that are in high demand, which can have a major financial impact. That financial impact, he said, applies to losses stemming from fraud, what impacted companies are spending on technology to address it, and simply to shine a light on what he called the severity and magnitude of this growing problem.
“We just need to continue to educate our members and work with the FMCSA (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) to implement things they are doing and working on, and continue to tell these stories on Capitol Hil,” he added.
