Where do I report double-brokering?

FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database at nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov is the primary channel — double-brokering complaints generally fall under deceptive business practice or operating authority and financial responsibility. Also report it to the load board the freight was posted on, which can ban the account far faster than any agency acts.

Will reporting freight fraud get my money or freight back?

Usually not directly. NCCDB and IC3 build enforcement records rather than recovering losses. For money, the realistic routes are a claim against the broker's surety bond if you hauled and were not paid, a cargo insurance claim, and civil action. Report anyway — the enforcement record is what stops the operator from repeating it.

Should I report fraud if I got the load back?

Yes. Unreported near-misses are why the same operators keep working — nothing accumulates against them and the next broker sees a clean record. Attempts and recovered incidents both count, and one complaint is often what turns an anecdote into a pattern someone can act on.

What information do I need to file a freight fraud complaint?

MC and USDOT numbers, the exact legal name and any DBA used, the email domain and phone numbers involved, the rate confirmation and bill of lading, remit-to and payment details including any mid-transaction change, dates, dollar amounts, and a capture of the carrier's FMCSA authority and insurance status as it appeared when you booked.

Do I report cargo theft to the FBI or to local police?

Both. Local law enforcement where the freight was taken is required for the police report your insurer will need. The FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov is for the organized, cross-state element — most strategic cargo theft is run by rings, and IC3 is where individual reports get connected.

How do I report a carrier impersonating another company?

File with NCCDB against the MC number that was misused, and with IC3, since impersonation is identity theft. Include the email domain and phone numbers used, because the mismatch between those and the carrier's federal contact record is usually the clearest evidence. Tell the real carrier too — their identity is being used and they will want to know.

Freight fraud

How to Report Freight Fraud: Where It Goes and What to Send

Most freight fraud never gets reported, because the people it happens to are busy recovering the load and assume nothing will come of a complaint. That assumption is part of why the same operators keep working. Reporting is not one destination — it is several, each doing something different, and they only work if you file with the right evidence. Here is where each report goes and what to gather first.

Check a carrier now

Before you file, pull the carrier's federal record. A free lookup by MC or DOT number shows operating authority, insurance on file, safety rating, and out-of-service status — the details every complaint form asks for.

Just the number works — with or without the MC/DOT prefix, and spaces are fine. Tip: prefix an MC number with “MC” (e.g. MC123456) so it isn't read as a DOT number.

Demo:— click to see a sample result + PDF

Gather the evidence before you file anything

Every channel below asks essentially the same questions, and a complaint without specifics tends to go nowhere. Assemble this once and you can file everywhere in a single sitting.

Identifiers. The MC and USDOT numbers used, the exact legal name and DBA on the paperwork, and any name variations that appeared across documents.
The contact channel. Email addresses, phone numbers, and the domain used. Impersonation cases live or die on this — a look-alike domain is often the clearest single piece of proof.
Documents. Rate confirmation, bill of lading, the certificate of insurance you were sent, the carrier packet, and the W-9. Keep the originals with headers intact rather than screenshots.
Payment details. Remit-to instructions, bank or factoring details, and any mid-transaction change to them. A remit-to that changed after booking is a documented red flag on its own.
Timeline and amounts. Dates for tender, pickup, delivery, and the point you realized something was wrong, plus the dollar value of the freight and any payment already made.
A screenshot of the federal record. Capture the carrier's authority and insurance status as it stood on the day you booked. That record changes, and later it will be the only evidence of what you could reasonably have seen.

Where to report — and what each channel actually does

FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database (nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov). The federal record for carrier and broker misconduct, including double-brokering, deceptive business practices, and operating-authority or financial-responsibility violations. This is what builds a pattern FMCSA can act on. It is not a recovery mechanism — it will not get your freight or money back — but it is the one that affects whether the operator keeps its authority.
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3.gov). For organized fraud, identity theft, and schemes crossing state lines — which describes most strategic cargo theft. IC3 aggregates complaints to identify rings, so a single report joins a larger picture even when your individual case is small.
DOT Office of Inspector General (oig.dot.gov/hotline). For fraud involving the federal registration system itself, such as fraudulently obtained authority or registration abuse.
The load board it was posted on. DAT, Truckstop and the rest can suspend and ban the offending account, and they act far faster than any agency. This is the channel most likely to stop the operator from doing it again next week.
Local law enforcement, where the freight was taken. Required for an actual theft, and necessary for any cargo insurance claim. Get the report number — insurers and the FBI will both ask for it.
The broker's surety bond. If you are a carrier who hauled and was not paid, the broker's BMC-84 bond is the financial remedy. Bonds are limited and claims are paid against a shared pool, so filing promptly matters — a slow claim can arrive after the money is gone.

File with more than one. They do genuinely different jobs: the load board stops the immediate repeat, the bond is where money is recovered, and NCCDB and IC3 are what make a pattern visible to people with subpoena power.

Report it even when you recovered the load

The common case: the freight turns up, the customer is made whole, everyone moves on, nobody files. This is the single biggest reason fraudulent operators stay in business — the evidence trail never forms, so the authority stays active and the next broker sees a clean record.

Patterns are what get acted on. One complaint is an anecdote. Six complaints against the same MC number is a case. Yours may be the one that crosses the line.
The next broker is checking that record. A complaint history is part of what makes a bad operator visible to the next person doing exactly what you did.
It costs a fraction of what the incident did. Filing takes under an hour with the evidence already assembled. The load you nearly lost cost far more than that.
Near-misses count. A double-brokering attempt you caught at tender is still a report. So is an impersonation attempt that failed. Attempts are data too.

The cheaper path: catching it before you tender

Reporting is what you do after. It is worth being blunt that recovery rates on freight fraud are poor, and the economics strongly favor the check that takes two minutes before the load moves.

Verify authority and insurance on the day you tender. Not at onboarding. Authority can be revoked in about 30 days from an insurance lapse, and a carrier cleared last month can be unauthorized today.
Compare the contact channel to the federal record. The dominant attack now is impersonation of a real, compliant carrier. Check whether the email domain and phone actually belong to the carrier on the FMCSA record before you send the rate confirmation.
Treat a mid-transaction remit-to change as fraud until proven otherwise. Confirm it by calling a number you already had, never one from the email requesting the change.
Watch for double-brokering signals. A carrier holding only broker authority and no active carrier authority cannot legally haul the load itself.
Keep the dated record. Under Montgomery v. Caribe, brokers face direct liability for negligent carrier selection. The vetting record is both fraud prevention and the defense if it ever gets litigated.

Common questions

Where do I report double-brokering?: FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database at nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov is the primary channel — double-brokering complaints generally fall under deceptive business practice or operating authority and financial responsibility. Also report it to the load board the freight was posted on, which can ban the account far faster than any agency acts.
Will reporting freight fraud get my money or freight back?: Usually not directly. NCCDB and IC3 build enforcement records rather than recovering losses. For money, the realistic routes are a claim against the broker's surety bond if you hauled and were not paid, a cargo insurance claim, and civil action. Report anyway — the enforcement record is what stops the operator from repeating it.
Should I report fraud if I got the load back?: Yes. Unreported near-misses are why the same operators keep working — nothing accumulates against them and the next broker sees a clean record. Attempts and recovered incidents both count, and one complaint is often what turns an anecdote into a pattern someone can act on.
What information do I need to file a freight fraud complaint?: MC and USDOT numbers, the exact legal name and any DBA used, the email domain and phone numbers involved, the rate confirmation and bill of lading, remit-to and payment details including any mid-transaction change, dates, dollar amounts, and a capture of the carrier's FMCSA authority and insurance status as it appeared when you booked.
Do I report cargo theft to the FBI or to local police?: Both. Local law enforcement where the freight was taken is required for the police report your insurer will need. The FBI's IC3 at ic3.gov is for the organized, cross-state element — most strategic cargo theft is run by rings, and IC3 is where individual reports get connected.
How do I report a carrier impersonating another company?: File with NCCDB against the MC number that was misused, and with IC3, since impersonation is identity theft. Include the email domain and phone numbers used, because the mismatch between those and the carrier's federal contact record is usually the clearest evidence. Tell the real carrier too — their identity is being used and they will want to know.

Sources

1.National Consumer Complaint Database (NCCDB) — FMCSA
2.Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) — FBI
3.Cargo Theft — FBI
4.DOT Office of Inspector General Hotline — U.S. Department of Transportation

Freight fraud prevention →Carrier impersonation: the channel attack →Double-brokering red flags →Cargo theft prevention →

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