VIDEO. Fraud, theft and scam tactics have been an incredibly worrying topic of discussion across the freight industry over the past year, and the issues are only growing as technology continues to become more sophisticated.Although Truckstop has been tracking reports of fraud across its entire customer base for 30 years, Lisa Haubenstock, vice president of product, risk and compliance solutions, says incidents of fraud have risen to unprecedented levels in the past few years. “From the point of view of a load board, fraud is not necessarily all that different from other industries, but we do have some additional areas of vulnerability,” Haubenstock said.That trend, she says, has been driven by a handful of factors, including vulnerabilities inherent to trucking.“This industry is unique in that we have to fight the fraud battle on multiple fronts,” Haubenstock said. “Cyberattacks, straight theft, double brokering and other tactics, combined with technological advancements in an industry that wasn’t built to be tech-first, have created a compounding effect, making it ripe for bad actors to come and exploit every vulnerability.” Many brokerages and other freight companies are not prepared to handle this level of fraud, according to Haubenstock. “We see all the behavioral patterns and how it’s escalated recently, and that’s because many companies are operating with an outdated framework,” she said. “That’s helped create a lot of the environment that we’ve been working to protect the entire industry from.”A load board service like Truckstop isn’t necessarily that different from any other kind of business, which means the same tactics that apply elsewhere will also apply in freight. However, many freight companies, said Haubenstock, have not caught up with today’s security needs.“We’ve observed that a lot of companies simply haven’t done infosec training,” Haubenstock said

In recognition of International Fraud Awareness Week, Truckstop introduced Risk Factors Advanced, a carrier-vetting solution that serves as the first line of defense for a growing enterprise business that requires more automation and sophistication.

A light approach to regulation and big tax cuts will be a boon for the trucking industry under a Donald Trump presidency, but Trump’s unpredictable management style poses a big long-term risk to the economy and motor carriers, freight economist Noel Perry said Wednesday.“We are in an extraordinarily risky environment. Whatever you say about the politics of Donald Trump, his management style is highly volatile and therefore risky. It may give better outcomes, but it’s highly risky,” said Perry, chief economist at Truckstop.com and principal at consultancy Transport Futures, during an appearance at  FreightWaves’ F3: Future of Freight Festival. “The trucking supply and pricing situation is a mess right now, and the geopolitical situation is the worst that I’ve experienced since back in the Vietnam days … and the demand side of the economy is [lackluster]. [The consumer] has been overbuying for a long time. So my message to my customers is that you need to be prudent for the next couple years, because all the risks are on the downside.”The Trump administration is likely to water down the Environmental Protection Agency’s rulemaking on greenhouse emissions standards for heavy-duty trucks and kill plans to require that engines be equipped with a device to control a truck’s maximum speed, Perry said