Washington – Today, the American Trucking Associations applauded Senator Todd Young (R-IN) for introducing legislation to reduce freight fraud and theft, strengthen regulatory oversight, prevent unlawful operations, and enhance enforcement across the commercial motor carrier industry.
The Securing American Freight, Enforcement, and Reliability in Transport (SAFER Transport) Act represents a direct response to issues that were raised during a Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing that Senator Young chaired last year on rising incidents of cargo theft. Testifying on behalf of ATA, an owner of a trucking small business described how his company’s identity was stolen by technologically advanced criminals, who used that information to divert and steal loads. The con artists took advantage of weaknesses in FMCSA’s Safety and Fitness Electronic Records (SAFER) System to perpetrate their…
Identity theft is the “foundational” fraud upon which many other crimes are built. It involves the unauthorized acquisition and use of a person’s personal identifying information (PII), such as an ID number, Social Security number, or passport details.
- How it works: Fraudsters obtain PII through data breaches, mail theft, or “social engineering” (tricking people into revealing details). Once they have this data, they can open new bank accounts, apply for credit cards or loans, and even receive medical treatment under your name.
- Synthetic Identity Fraud: A sophisticated variation where criminals combine real and fabricated information to create a completely new, “synthetic” person. This is particularly difficult to detect because there is no single victim to report the suspicious activity initially.