Highway's Q3 Fraud Index Links 40.2% of Stolen Loads to Compromised Carrier Communications

Highway attributed 40.2% of the stolen loads reported to it in the third quarter of 2026 to compromised communications, the company said in its Freight Fraud Index. Yahoo published the findings on November 7, 2026. Highway recorded 184 stolen load incidents between July and September, a 28.1% decline from the previous quarter but 8.2% higher than the same period a year earlier.

Inside Highway's Third-Quarter Fraud Findings

Highway is a Dallas-based logistics technology company founded in 2021 that runs a carrier identity platform and the Trusted Freight Exchange for freight brokers and third-party logistics providers, according to company records.

Criminals accessed carrier email accounts and used familiar addresses to request shipment information, according to the report. Highway said emailed rate confirmations are another vulnerability when carrier accounts are compromised, and that the risk continues after brokers approve a legitimate carrier. Ownership change reports rose 111.4% from the previous quarter and 12.4% year over year, and Highway received 518 such reports in the quarter.

Direct theft incidents fell 16% quarter over quarter, but their share of reported stolen loads rose from 31.3% to 36.4%. Highway said 87% of direct theft events involved carriers with at least one user whose records carried a non-domiciled or limited-term CDL designation, and that its index lacks the network-wide comparison needed to evaluate that figure.

Alyssa Fleury, director of operations at the Georgia freight brokerage PEI, described the verification gap brokers face. "A carrier can look great on paper, with established authority and a clean history," she wrote. Highway also blocked 670,230 fraudulent inbound emails, up 10.6% from a year earlier, and recorded 15,491 unauthorized FMCSA contact changes, up 12.7% from the second quarter.

Highway's Carrier Network and Funding Record

Highway's platform provides transparency into fleet analytics for more than 280,000 carriers across North America and serves 97 of the top 100 freight brokers, according to akta.pro company records. The same records list a 2025 private equity round led by FTV Capital and a June 2026 partnership with Transfix that embeds carrier vetting into the Transfix TMS workflow.

Earlier Highway Fraud and Data Moves

In October 2026, Samsara became the first Highway Certified ELD Provider, joining a network that also includes certified insurance agencies, GlobeNewswire reported. That same month, Highway said freight fraud had shifted to social engineering attacks and pointed to a $100,000 performance guarantee for stolen loads, FreightWaves reported. In August 2026, Highway and Motive issued a joint statement restoring the frequency at which Highway can access electronic logging device data from Motive customers who authorize it, Yahoo reported.

Holiday Demand and Fourth-Quarter Theft Risk

Highway expects holiday shipping demand to create additional opportunities for cargo thieves in the fourth quarter, and it recommends confirming authorized carrier contacts, checking driver information and documenting exceptions before releasing shipments.