Highway's Q2 2025 Freight Fraud Index Highlights Surge in Identity-Based Fraud Attempts

The freight and logistics industry is facing an unprecedented surge in identity-based fraud attempts, as detailed in Highway's Q2 2025 Freight Fraud Index. The report highlights a disturbing trend, with Highway flagging and blocking 495,267 fraudulent email attempts and 42,421 suspicious phone numbers, marking a 41% increase in email fraud and a 23% rise in broker-reported identity fraud compared to Q1 2025.

Michael Grace, Vice President of Customer Risk Management at Highway, emphasized the strategic nature of these attacks, stating, "Freight fraud isn’t just opportunistic anymore—it’s coordinated and strategic." The index points to compromised inboxes, phone-based impersonation, and illegitimate motor carrier (MC) ownership changes as primary drivers of theft. Notably, attackers are exploiting email accounts without multi-factor authentication (MFA) to intercept rate confirmations and reroute payments.

In response to these challenges, Highway has introduced Secure Rate Con Delivery and Highway for VoIP, aimed at enhancing security measures. Secure Rate Con Delivery ensures that rate confirmations are accessible only to verified users, while Highway for VoIP detects and blocks fraudulent calls, having already identified over 42,000 such attempts in Q2 2025.

The report also sheds light on the timing of these fraud attempts, with 50% of reported thefts occurring during Memorial Day week, a period of reduced staffing and high shipment volumes. Grace warns of more calculated tactics by fraudsters, urging brokers to adopt secure delivery methods, verify contact changes, and require MFA to mitigate risks.

For further details on the Freight Fraud Index and Highway's solutions, visit https://highway.com/.