Criminal fraud in its many and various manifestations within the global supply chain is a primary and growing threat, TT says.
The almost exclusive use of online facilities to process business transactions allows a myriad of fraudulent pursuits to find opportunities within the complexities of the global supply chain.
“No one – from freight forwarders, shippers, and carriers to container owners and logistics, ports, warehouse and depot operators – should underestimate how lucrative an industry fraud is. Using sophisticated, low-risk tactics, fraudsters can easily steal large amounts of money or consignments of cargo,” said Mike Yarwood, Managing Director, Loss Prevention at TT Club.
“Incidents of fraud that target international supply chains across the globe are not perpetrated by opportunistic criminals working in isolation but, in the majority of cases, are the work of sophisticated organised crime gangs,” Yarwood adds.
“They have well-honed methodologies that are adaptable in the face of detection devices and changes in operating procedures, as the experience of recent disruption to the freight transport system has proved. Our awareness and readiness to protect our businesses must be stepped up.”
Specific examples of fraud, he added, include the intentional submission of false invoices purportedly from an established supplier but actually generated by a fraudster infiltrating the online payment system as well as duplicated or inflated invoices.
Other cases include mandate fraud, and criminal deception by manipulating bank transfer details by a fraudster pretending to be an organisation paid regularly by the operator. This is often facilitated by hacking into the victim’s email traffic and imitating a genuine supplier to alter bank transfer details for payment of a legitimate invoice.
As TAPA EMEA has previously highlighted, TT Club also warned of fake carriers intercepting haulage instructions from forwarders or shippers and posing as the authentic carrier; also falsifying cargo pick-up or delivery documentation to steal loads.
One common tactic involves fraudsters posing as a forwarder using a freight exchange site and providing false instructions to a driver. They match a legitimate haulier to a shipper, facilitating the movement of goods. The fraudster then acts as a ‘middle man’ between these two legitimate companies, arranging the collection and directing the driver. Once the trucker has collected the goods, the fraudster provides new instructions to deliver to an alternative address where the cargo is stolen.
“To avoid such frauds, it is crucial to make employees aware of the possibilities, to take extra care to verify documentation and instructions directly with customers and/or trusted partners, especially in pressure situations where carrier options might be in short supply or when there are particular time constraints,” he advises.