Heads up. This one is hitting brokers hard right now.
Guys are faking carrier packets with AI now. And they're good at it.
Real MC number. Insurance certificate that looks perfect. Clean W9. You run your normal checks and everything comes back fine. Then the truck never shows, or worse, someone picks up your load and vanishes.
These aren't amateurs. They're watching load boards all day, responding within minutes, and moving fast because they know you're under pressure to cover the load.
Here's what happened to a broker last week
Posted a dry van. $45K in electronics, Chicago to Atlanta.
Carrier came back in 8 minutes. Clean MC, professional packet, took the rate without negotiating.
Pickup window came and went. Phone went straight to voicemail. Load was gone.
Turned out the real carrier, a small fleet in Indiana, had no idea anyone was using their MC number.
If you see these this week, slow down
→ Google the carrier's email domain at whois.domaintools.com. If it was registered less than 60 days ago, call before you book.
→ Insurance certificate looks perfect but the agent's number goes to voicemail
→ MC number has years of history but zero roadside inspections
→ Truck supposedly coming from a city 800 miles from where they're based
One of these, maybe. All four, walk away.
Do this before your next booking
Call the insurance agent yourself. Not the number on the certificate. Google the agency, find their main line, and ask them to confirm the cert is real.
Three minutes. Caught fraud that everything else missed.
One thing worth adding to your process
Start asking new carriers what city their truck is in right now. Then check it against their MC registration.
If it doesn't line up, one phone call before you send the rate con. That's it.
They're counting on you being too busy to ask one extra question. Don't be that broker.
If this was useful, forward it to someone who needs it.
See something sketchy this week? Hit reply. I read every one.
Denis