The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) calculates that cargo theft costs the trucking industry over $18 million per day. And according to CargoNet, strategic theft, a category of crime that uses deception, identity theft and fraudulent documentation to divert freight, has surged by 1,500% since 2021. Ninety percent of motor carriers are small businesses operating 10 trucks or less, and they’re under enormous strain to counter these technologically advanced adversaries. In addition, the transnational aspect of cargo theft also poses a national security threat. The proceeds from stolen goods finance other criminal activities, including drug trafficking, organized crime and even potentially terrorism. Navigating a New Normal During a recent webinar presented by the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), Scott Cornell, chief risk officer for SPG Cargo and Logistics, said cargo theft trends in the U.S. have fundamentally changed. Carriers and law enforcement are navigating a “new normal” in the fight against cargo theft. “Unless something drastically changes or there’s more regulation through the federal government around things that could prevent cargo theft, there’s no sign that cargo theft is gonna go down,” he said. According to a report from Overhaul, for the first time since 2021, U.S. cargo theft declined year over year in the first quarter of 2026 — but that relief may be short-lived. The National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) noted in its most recent Transportation Industry Cybersecurity Trends Report that the most dramatic increase in cargo theft occurred in the New York City metropolitan area, specifically New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania (up 110% and 33%, respectively). Dangerous Combination Analysts attribute these spikes to the adoption of cybercrime tactics by organized criminal networks that leveraged social engineering to impersonate carriers, hijack Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) accounts and manipulate load tenders and other dispatch documentation. “The result