At FreightWaves’ 2025 F3: Future of Freight Festival, Jeff Starr, Senior Vice President of Marketplace Solutions at Echo Global Logistics, sat down with Loaded and Rolling host Thomas Wasson to delve into the nuanced challenges of freight fraud and the sophisticated methods required to combat it. With criminals becoming increasingly cunning and technology-savvy, the logistics industry faces a new wave of theft strategies that demand constant adaptation.
Starr, who has been with Echo for 17 years, brings a wealth of experience and a comprehensive perspective on the evolution of freight fraud.
“Fraud’s always been part of the business,” Starr said. The risk landscape, though, has dramatically transitioned from dealing with minor theft to grappling with high-stake scams. “It’s really just evolved,” he said. “When I first started doing this business, there was a lot of double brokerage. Now, these fraudsters are targeting actual freight potentially worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
This transformation in risk requires a shift in strategies for fraud detection and mitigation. According to Starr, Echo’s approach involves a robust integration of people, processes, and technology, because a multipronged approach is critical in this ongoing battle.
“Technology is the first line of defense,” Starr said. He elaborated on the importance of using tools such as multifactor authentication to secure their digital platforms. However, Starr says, scammers are getting very clever. “They’re finding ways to hack people’s Gmail, get access to passwords, get access to logins, so technology is just one component.”
Fraudsters have kept pace with advancing technology, employing artificial intelligence and other digital tools to create convincing fraudulent confirmations and documentation. To counteract this, Echo sees an opportunity in advanced AI capabilities for predictive threat identification.
Echo uses AI to help anticipate deviations in shipment routes that can signify fraudulent activities. “If you’ve got identifiable trends, and you see that someone is going outside of a normal route, that’s something that you can use to say, ‘Okay, something’s going wrong,’” Starr said.
The human element is equally crucial in Echo’s strategy. Carrier sales reps play an indispensable role in validating transactions, even when bookings occur online.
“Even if we book it online, we still ask our carrier reps to reach out and talk to their dispatch or the person they’re used to working with because that’s the best way to validate it,” Starr said.
Echo’s proactive measures extend to supporting shippers in fortifying their defenses. According to Starr, trusting reliable partners and having strict controls at the warehouse level is as important as utilizing technological security solutions.
“Make sure you have a pickup number that only you and the carrier should have,” Starr advised shippers. Secure procedures always have been and continue to be fundamental to prevent impostor pickups.
Starr says that the nature of security threats is always changing, however, which means that logistics businesses have to evolve with the times. Criminals are leveraging technology in novel ways.
“Some of these fraudsters can edit PDFs really well,” Starr said. “I’ve seen them place my photo into things,” he said. Combating fraud in the digital age means that security has to operate at multiple levels.
Aside from the general trends of increased fraud, there are high-risk areas prevalent in the logistics landscape. Drivers and dispatchers have to maintain heightened vigilance in regions with heavy congestion.
In vulnerable areas, risk management requires a tailored approach to risk management.
“In places like Los Angeles, Miami, much of New Jersey and Chicago – everybody should be making sure they’ve got a good plan in place for those higher risk areas,” Starr said.
Echo’s vigilance extends beyond digital security. Physical security is paramount, especially for high-value shipments. Additional protection measures are becoming more and more crucial for commodities that are easily sold in secondary markets, as those are the kinds of goods most likely to be targeted.
By enforcing stricter security protocols, such as requiring specific shipments to pass through secure yards, Echo aims to protect these vulnerable goods and maintain stakeholder trust.
According to Starr, the freight industry has to collaborate in order to successfully confront the escalating threats posed by fraud. It’s more important than ever for shippers, carriers, and brokers to practice transparency.
“It’s a game of trust right now,” Starr said. “We’re making sure that we’re being transparent about how we’re approaching it, letting our customers know, letting our carriers know, and making as safe an environment as we possibly can.”
Echo is dedicated to strengthening industry partnerships. Echo actively assists carriers not just in compliance, by monitoring for signs of compromised systems, but also through proactive recommendations for secure handling of freight.
“One of the things we do for our carriers is compliance—using multiple data sources to make sure that if we see anything going on, we can also notify them,” Starr said.
Ultimately, the fight against freight fraud is an ongoing battle that demands constant innovation and open communication within the industry. “I definitely see it as a partnership,” Starr said. “Customers should understand how their brokers and their carriers are managing freight.”
According to Starr, Echo Global Logistics’ multifaceted approach offers a template for other logistics companies facing similar threats. Echo not only aims to safeguard their operations but also to lead the logistics sector toward a more secure future with stronger relationships.
