WASHINGTON — After years of complaints from truckers, brokers and insurance companies, federal regulators are standing up a team specifically to deal with rampant fraud in the trucking industry.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Registration Fraud Team will work in the agency’s registration office to focus solely on assisting those who have been victims of registration fraud at the agency as well as identifying measures to help prevent it.
“It’s a small team that doesn’t exist now, but we think it will go a long way towards helping the industry,” said Ken Riddle, director of FMCSA’s Office of Registration, during a presentation at FMCSA’s annual safety research forum on Wednesday.
“We’ve heard from every corner of the industry about how bad fraud is right now, and the one thing we’ve heard loud and clear is, ‘How can FMCSA help?’ We took that very seriously, so we’re looking at every way that we can help mitigate it.”
Scammers and hackers have been able to break into FMCSA’s registration system, which is used to provide motor carrier and broker operating authority, as well as certify insurance companies providing cargo and liability insurance. They register as fake drivers and fake companies. Such illegal access has led to motor carrier identity theft and can limit the ability of the FMCSA to effectively monitor safety.
Other short-term steps FMCSA has already taken or plans to take to address the problem is suspending online PIN requests that registrants use to access their accounts to update or make changes.
“We used to send those numbers online per request, but we can’t do that anymore because there was too much fraudulent activity with that,” Riddle said. “Now the only way to get a PIN number to access an account is to request it, and we will mail it to the address on file. It’s not convenient or expeditious, but it’s a small measure we took to help reduce the fraud.”
FMCSA has also moved to multifactor authentication for all IT systems that are accessed by the public, and is tightening measures for preventing principal places of business that are registered that do not meet regulatory requirements.
“This will help prevent some of these virtual, fraudulent, fake addresses that applicants are submitting for the sole purpose of committing fraud on the industry,” Riddle said.
Longer-term measures will include hiring outside contractors to provide both identity verification services and business verification services.
“We’re going to have the 800,000 existing registrants go through this identity verification process in order to weed out the bad actors that may already exist in the system,” he noted.
Both the immediate and longer-term changes will be incorporated into an overhauled registration system to replace the current Unified Registration System.
Last week FMCSA announced it will be asking the White House Office of Management and Budget to review and approve a request to collect new information that will be used to help set up the new system.
Nseobong Udo
I want to bring to your notice that owner operators can’t make it since January 2024. Prices or rate paid to carriers now can’t cover for fuel and vehicle maintenance. It seems as if the brokers meet themselves, decide to pay very less amount for loads nowadays. They are in their offices making more money whereas owner operates drivers day or night with out making enough to cover all costs. Some owners operators have folded up because no money to maintain their vehicles due to poor rate payments received. I wish a standard payment per mile should be put in place. Majority of the brokers cheat by not listing how much will be paid. I wish a standard rate be set and all brokers should abide by it.
Michelle Thomas
The most fraud I’ve seen has all come from the DAT board. These organizations have an authorized MC which they use to legitimately open up accounts with load boards but when you post a load and they call you, they use someone else’s MC illegally and forged insurance documents. I screen every carrier personal for our company and it’s easy to see the red flags. When I report these players, DAT does nothing, USDOT told me to not bother as they are not even required to report the usage of the MC to the true MC owner, and I have never once heard back from the FBI cyber fraud department nor the FMCSA when I’ve filed.
I had one fraud guy laughingly tell me to go ahead and report his MC as he had 12 more as backups.
John Westra, Innovation Manager
Adding additional Federal employees & bureaucracy will, if we’re lucky, solve this problem at 100X the needed cost in 10 years. Why not create a “T-Prize,” that offers a $250K incentive and recognition, for the private sector company that solves this year’s challenge!? I guarantee you’ll get an AI-enabled, Blockchain-based solution, that will proactively monitor, screen and suspend potential violators and provide an audit trail, that will increase trust across the entire industry. Bonus, it will never require a pension!
Gail M Morra
Ted Riddle, Director of Fraud dept. You should be really embarrassed to sit in that position. American drivers have had to put up with arrogant foreign drivers for years. They aren’t trained properly. They come here and get zero interest loans to buy truck and get into trucks and recklessly drive our interstates. I tried to apply in florida recently to haul citrus and another driver who was black he and I were led to believe we had a job. Only to have recruiter come in to tell us the owner won’t hire us. Nothing wrong with our cdl history. The recruiter was on phone with drivers from south America who they know will drive for peanuts. Mega carriers such as Messina Valley transport had non English drivers in orientation years ago who employees were helping them fill out application and any written tests that went on in classes. You’re all a bunch of Liars to the American drivers who are regulated and fined for simple fractions, but you have pretty much illegals on our highways. Shame on you!!!
Ron Craig
Our own govt is to blame for this rampant fraudula t issue,the govt constantly continues to bring in and aid in this fraud .
Our own GOVERNMENT is to blame…..
Deborah A Hall
Thank you Jesus, we really need this to happen. There are a lot of drivers speeding and don’t know how to read the signs.And don’t comprehend the English language. They cut you off a d the want to fight you because you won’t let them in. They don’t obey the rules. Hats off to you for taking a big step in cutting down on fraudulent companies with inexperienced drivers. Continue to keep our highway safe. You have my vote.
Ray M
Amen ! On the FMCSA cracking down on the scammers , but I have one question, where were you 15 to twenty years ago when this crap all started. Further more , with respect to the FMCSA, how can you let people drive that can’t speak or read English, this is a very huge factor in the safety that y’all are trying to monitor ? Operating a CMV . Crack down on mega carriers for letting this very important step in the cdl training process slide. Please address this problem it’s a big one , Also I have been struck driver for many years , my mother owned a truck stop and family restaurant in Mass for 19 years . I have seen new drivers within the last eight to ten years with absolutely no respect for the hyway and byway public and other fellow true truckers.
What happened to weigh stations being open 24 hours . Foreign truck drivers that break the law frequently drive at night because they know scales are closed . We need those officers back on duty. I speak for myself not other professional drivers , but I’m sure they will chime in here as well . There are many problems with new drivers that are still in the adolescent phase in there life driving CMV s like they racing a car . I have never seen so many deaths and rollovers in my entire life as of 2024 . It’s horrifying !