IUMI and TAPA warn cargo crime has moved from ‘the asphalt to cyberspace’ as fraud and theft escalate

The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) and the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) EMEA have issued a joint warning over the rapid escalation of cargo theft and freight fraud across global supply chains.

The organisations said incidents are rising across Europe, the Americas and Africa, with Latin America and parts of Africa continuing to experience particularly violent attacks, while Europe and North America are seeing a surge in digitally enabled fraud.

According to TAPA’s intelligence system, nearly 160,000 cargo related crimes were recorded across 129 countries between 2022 and 2024, with total losses estimated in the billions of Euros.

The joint report said cargo crime has increasingly shifted “from the asphalt to cyberspace”.

“The losses indicate that cargo crime has moved ‘from the asphalt to cyberspace’, with criminals increasingly using digital tools to conceal their true identities and shift from physical theft and violent hijackings to sophisticated online fraud.”

The report from IUMI and TAPA highlighted the scale of losses across different regions.

Their joint briefing warned: “Cargo theft losses in North America reached $455m in 2024, with over 3,600 reported incidents. The average loss per incident exceeds $202,000.

“TAPA EMEA’s cargo crime intelligence database recorded over 108,000 thefts from supply chains in more than 110 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the last two years.

“The 5% of these crimes reporting their loss value were worth a combined €1 billion+, the equivalent of >€1.3m every 24 hours. Major incidents (€100K+) averaged €878,525.”

The two organisations warned that criminals are increasingly using fraudulent collection methods rather than traditional hijackings.

“The method is low risk and high reward because the cargo is handed over voluntarily.”

The report explained how criminals establish shell companies, clone legitimate firms or operate using stolen credentials so that pickups appear legitimate.

“Offenders rely on simple but effective digital deception: spoofed or forged email addresses, look-alike domains, fake insurance certificates, and counterfeit driver credentials.”

Thorsten Neumann, president and CEO of TAPA EMEA, said criminals are exploiting digital tools to scale these schemes.

“Although conventional theft from trucks and warehouses are still prevalent, cargo crime is evolving.

“We are seeing criminals using digital tools to conceal their true identities, the creation of shell companies and legitimate firms being cloned using stolen credentials.”

“Forged email addresses, look-alike domains and fake insurance certificates are increasingly common. Our concern is that artificial intelligence will accelerate these activities, making deception easier to scale and significantly driving up losses,” he said.

The report said artificial intelligence (AI) is not yet central to these crimes but will make document forgery and identity obfuscation easier to scale.

“Emerging AI tools can streamline document forgery, identity obfuscation, and credential harvesting, making these schemes easier to scale and potentially driving larger losses over time,” the briefing said.

IUMI and TAPA are calling for urgent action from shippers, logistics providers, insurers and freight exchange platforms.

The organisations urged continuous vetting of carriers and drivers, strict verification of documentation and insurance credentials, adherence to recognised security standards and increased vigilance for abnormal behaviour.

Lars Lange, secretary general of IUMI, said freight exchange platforms play a critical role.

“A crucial element in the fight against cargo fraud are freight exchange platforms. They have a key responsibility to ensure no bogus carriers can operate on these platforms,” he said.

“IUMI and TAPA EMEA encourage these platforms to implement robust identity verification and fraud detection protocols, including multifactor authentication. Their support and cooperation is essential to closing loopholes which are increasingly being exploited by fake carriers,” Lange added.