The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) and the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) EMEA are warning supply chain stakeholders that cargo theft and freight fraud are escalating rapidly - both in scale and sophistication - across Europe, the Americas and Africa. While Latin America and parts of Africa continue to see particularly severe and violent attacks, both organisations stress that the fastest-growing threat is now digitally enabled crime. 

TAPA’s intelligence system recorded close to 160,000 cargo-related crimes across 129 countries between 2022 and 2024, with losses estimated in the billions of euros. The organisations say criminals are increasingly shifting “from the asphalt to cyberspace”, using deception to take control of consignments without force. 

Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO of TAPA EMEA, notes that conventional theft from trucks and warehouses remains prevalent, but fraud tactics are evolving. Criminals are creating shell companies, cloning legitimate firms using stolen credentials, and presenting forged documentation that makes a collection look routine. Spoofed e-mail addresses, look-alike domains, fake insurance certificates and counterfeit driver credentials are becoming common. He warns that artificial intelligence is likely to accelerate these methods by making identity obfuscation and document forgery easier to scale. 

IUMI points to freight exchange platforms as a critical pressure point. Secretary General Lars Lange says these platforms have a key responsibility to prevent bogus carriers operating in digital marketplaces, urging stronger identity verification and fraud detection protocols, including multi-factor authentication. 

The joint advice to shippers, logistics providers and insurers is practical and urgent: continuously vet carriers and drivers; verify contacts, e-mail addresses and phone numbers before every transport order (even with trusted partners); cross-check driver credentials and forwarder details; and treat minor changes to contact information as a major red flag. The statement also reinforces the importance of recognised standards such as TAPA’s Cyber Security Standard and Freight Broker Security Requirements, alongside established loss-prevention guidance. 

Operational discipline still matters. Secure facilities, secure parking and robust route planning remain essential to reduce in-transit theft, supported by increased real-time GPS monitoring and heightened vigilance for abnormal behaviour such as last-minute changes or unusual routing. 

Photo: Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO of TAPA EMEA.