THE NEW COST OF FIGHTING FREIGHT FRAUD
Protecting Freight Shouldn’t Make It Harder for Good Carriers to Stay in Business.
Freight fraud has forced the trucking industry to get smarter, stricter, and more cautious.
That is a good thing.
Cargo theft, identity fraud, double brokering, and fraudulent carriers have forced brokers, shippers, carriers, technology providers, and government agencies to rethink how freight moves across the country.
But there is another side of the conversation that does not get talked about enough:
New verification platforms, stricter onboarding requirements, increased visibility, and stronger security measures are becoming part of everyday operations.
They're necessary.
They're helping protect an industry that has lost billions of dollars to fraud.
Yet...What happens when every new layer of protection creates another cost, another task, or another system for honest small carriers to manage?
Pam Polyak, CEO and Owner of Polyak Trucking, Logistics & Consulting, put it plainly during a recent episode of our Driving Forward podcast:
“We’re willing to do our part... but every solution becomes another responsibility that lands on the carrier.”
Small carriers are not asking the industry to take fraud less seriously. They are asking for the industry to recognize what these added requirements look like at the company level.
Security Isn't Free
The burden doesn't stop with replacing stolen freight or paying higher insurance deductibles. It continues long after the claim is closed.
As fraud has become more sophisticated, many carriers have invested in identity verification platforms, carrier monitoring tools, cybersecurity, telematics, cameras, cargo visibility, and additional insurance requirements simply to continue doing business.
Those investments come at a time when operating margins remain under pressure.
According to ATRI’s 2025 Operational Costs Report, total operating costs excluding fuel rose another 3.6% in 2024, even during a weak freight market. Insurance premiums, equipment payments, driver benefits, and tolls all reached record highs.
For many small carriers, fraud prevention has quietly become another operating expense.
The Cost of Knowing More
Pam Polyak discusses the growing financial and operational burden fraud prevention places on today's trucking companies.
A common misconception surrounding technology in trucking is that every new platform exists to make companies more efficient.
Sometimes it does.
But every new source of data also creates a new level of responsibility.
Telematics, ELDs, dash cameras, GPS history, safety alerts, and driver scorecards are often sold as tools to help carriers operate better. And they can.
But once that data exists, the expectation changes.
If a driver has repeated hard braking events, aggressive cornering, or other risky behaviors, it is no longer enough for the system to capture the information. Someone has to review it, coach the driver, document the coaching, and follow up.
If something goes wrong later, that history may become part of the legal conversation.
Expectations are changing faster than businesses can adapt. Technology doesn't simply create visibility anymore.
It creates accountability.
The Answer Isn't Less Technology
Technology has changed what it means to be a responsible carrier. Collecting data used to be the goal. Today, it's only the beginning.
Rather than resisting new technology, the better question is: How can small carriers use technology to reduce the workload instead of adding to it?
If technology is increasing the amount of responsibility placed on small carriers, perhaps technology also needs to become part of how they manage that responsibility.
For Pam, AI has helped her get more value from the systems she already uses by connecting information across her:
Pam shares how AI is helping her team automate checks between systems, improve data accuracy, and focus more time on running the business.
Transportation Management System (TMS)
Telematics and ELD platform
Customer portals and operational data
Instead of manually comparing information across multiple systems, AI helps identify:
Automated Reporting
Identifying discrepancies between systems
Streamlining safety scoring
Reducing repetitive administrative work.
The goal is not to replace employees. It is to give a small team more capacity.
That's an important distinction.
The companies likely to benefit most from AI aren't necessarily the largest fleets. They may be the smaller carriers looking for practical ways to reduce administrative work without adding headcount.
The Bigger Challenge Facing Trucking
Freight fraud isn't going away.
Neither are customer expectations around visibility, compliance, or security.
The industry will continue adding safeguards because it has to. The question becomes whether the businesses expected to implement those safeguards have the resources to keep pace.
For many small carriers, the challenge isn't moving freight. It's managing everything required to move it safely, securely, compliantly, and profitably.
Small carriers do not need more technology for the sake of technology. They need tools, processes, and partners that help them manage the work already sitting on their plate.
Fighting fraud matters. So does making sure the honest companies doing things the right way can still compete.
As the industry continues strengthening its defenses, we have to keep asking the right question:
How do we keep the bad actors out without making it harder for the good ones to stay in?
About GLCS
At GLCS, we believe technology should reduce operational complexity, not add to it.
GLCS helps trucking companies and freight brokerages simplify IT, strengthen cybersecurity, integrate critical systems, and make better use of the technology they already have, so they can spend less time managing technology and more time running their business.