For years, the air cargo industry has focused its security efforts on the acceptance stage, strengthening Known Shipper verification, improving chain-of-custody procedures and tightening document checks. Yet cargo identity fraud continues to rise, suggesting that many attacks begin well before freight reaches the warehouse.
According to Verisk CargoNet’s 2025 Annual Analysis, supply chain crime across North America generated losses of approximately US$725 million in 2025, representing a 60% increase compared with the previous year. The figures indicate an ever-growing threat that cannot be countered by traditional security measures alone.
The author, who has almost 20 years of experience in cargo acceptance, commercial pricing and route analysis at three airlines, believes the real vulnerability is on the commercial side of the business. “Rather than starting at the acceptance counter, cargo identity fraud often starts during routine processes such as rate quotations, booking requests and the exchange of shipment information.
The analysis identifies three common fraudster tactics.
The first is business email compromise based on pricing information. A freight quotation can reveal a wealth of information about what is being shipped, when it will be moved and what it’s worth. Criminals can then use that intelligence to send fraudulent emails, issue fake pick-up instructions or impersonate legitimate parties involved in the shipment.
The second approach is to use Known Shipper credentials. Time is often of the essence for air cargo operations, and verification procedures can be expedited when a flight is about to depart. According to the analysis, fraudsters exploit those time pressures by manipulating customer credentials during the booking process.
The third method focuses on high-value trade corridors. Commercial route analysis used by carriers to optimise pricing and network performance can also reveal which lanes regularly carry valuable cargo. If that information falls into the wrong hands, organised criminal groups can identify the most attractive shipments to target.
A key concern is that none of these methods requires hackers to breach secure IT systems. Instead, they depend on bona fide business information generated and shared in the normal course of business that makes suspicious activity so much more difficult to spot.
The analysis also points to the growing attention cargo identity fraud is receiving from authorities. In 2025, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee identified it as a national enforcement priority and in April 2026 the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a public advisory warning about cyber-enabled cargo theft.
The author says these developments point to an important gap in current security strategies, with most preventative measures still focusing on warehouse operations and cargo acceptance, while the commercial processes where shipments are priced, booked and planned receive far less attention.
To counter the issue, the industry is encouraged to bring fraud detection into the commercial environment itself. Monitoring unusual pricing requests, suspicious booking activity, attempts to manipulate customer credentials and abnormal trade-lane patterns could help detect potential fraud before cargo even reaches an airport.
The analysis also argues that tackling these threats will require greater collaboration across the industry. Pricing teams, cargo operations and security departments often operate independently, while airlines and freight forwarders each hold only part of the available information. A more coordinated, carrier-neutral approach that combines commercial and operational data could improve the industry’s ability to detect organised cargo fraud before shipments enter the logistics chain.
