If freight is missing right now — call 911 first, then work the process below in parallel. · Report a stolen load →
IsoFreight
Stolen Freight · Recovery Process

If your freight is stolen, here is exactly what to do.

A generic, jurisdiction-agnostic recovery process that works for any commercial load — any commodity, any origin, any destination. Built from synthesis of LE-led recovery playbooks, insurance-side incident response, and cargo theft task force protocols. Two people working two phones in parallel beats one person working a list.

Report a stolen load now → Read the process
Step 1 / 5

Make the calls, in parallel, by priority tier.

Two people, two phones, simultaneously. Do not single-thread. The first ask on every call is the same: NCIC entry on tractor AND trailer. Nothing else moves until NCIC is in.

Tier 1 · Local law enforcement

Sheriff or municipal PD at the last-known location.

  • Inside city limits → municipal PD. Outside city limits → county sheriff. If unsure, call both.
  • If the last-known location is within ~60 minutes of a state line, also call the adjacent jurisdiction. Cross-line cases get dropped between two departments that each think the other is handling it.
  • For larger metro PDs, ask for the Real-Time Crime Center / Intelligence Center — that's the desk that actually runs ALPR and camera queries.
The most important ask on this call: NCIC entry on tractor AND trailer. Without NCIC, no roadside inspector, weigh station, or LPR camera in the country can flag the unit.
Tier 2 · State patrol

State highway patrol — both sides of any state line.

  • Ask for the commercial vehicle enforcement desk, not general dispatch.
  • Request LPR queries on the plate in both directions on every interstate radiating out from the last-known location, run within the hour.
Tier 3 · Federal

FBI field offices covering both the last-known location and the load origin.

  • Ask for the cargo theft coordinator by title. Generic tip lines don't route to investigators.
  • Federal hook for interstate freight: 18 USC 659 (theft from interstate shipment).
  • Commodity-specific federal angles: DEA (controlled substances), ATF (firearms / alcohol / tobacco), FDA (regulated food / pharma).
Tier 4 · Industry network

Recovery and intelligence networks that move faster than police channels.

  • CargoNet — theft alert into their LE communications platform. Non-members can file.
  • NICB — insurance crime SIU coordination.
  • State bureau of investigation (TBI / GBI / FDLE / state equivalent) — looped in by local LE or FBI.
  • TAPA — if your company is a member, the member-alert system runs in parallel to police channels.
  • Commodity-specific recovery network if one exists (electronics, pharma, metals).
Tier 5 · Commercial parties

Insurer, shipper, broker, and brand-owner security.

  • Cargo insurer — notice now, claim filing later. Most policies have a 24-hour notice requirement.
  • Shipper + broker — three-way call if possible.
  • OEM / brand-owner security team if cargo is branded high-value (electronics, pharma, luxury, firearms). They have 24/7 security operations centers, serialized inventory, and can flag product against activation, distribution, or resale systems.
Step 2 / 5

Build the data packet in the first 10 minutes.

One person builds this and nothing else. Everyone else waits on the packet before they make their calls — law enforcement and recovery networks can't help without it.

Vehicle

Tractor VIN, plate and state. Trailer VIN, plate and state. Make, model, year, color, distinguishing marks. Kingpin lock status. Any covert tracker hidden inside the cargo.

Driver

Full name, DOB, CDL number and state. Cell number and carrier. Photo. Hire date, prior incidents, emergency contact. Financial-distress indicators if known.

Load

BOL. Rate confirmation. Pickup time. Planned route. Commodity description, weight, piece count, declared value. Seal numbers. Shipment-level serial / IMEI / lot list if available from shipper.

Timeline

Every tracker that was active and the exact timestamp each went dark. Last GPS ping coordinates. Last driver text or call with timestamp. Last fuel stop.

Evidence

Dispatch chat history. Driver app sign-in logs. ELD history pulled and preserved. Photos of the unit at pickup. Screenshots of tracker shutdown, app logout, or power loss.

One PDF

Compile the above into a single document. This is what goes to FBI, state patrol, CargoNet, and insurance — same packet to all of them.

Step 3 / 5

Where the freight is — by pattern, not by intuition.

You do not search. Law enforcement searches. You give them the priority zones.

The pattern: multi-hour communications blackout + disabled trackers + state-line crossover usually means a cross-dock event, not a runner. Driver pulls off, freight transloads to a clean trailer, original rig is dumped or driven somewhere innocuous. Search priority follows the cross-dock pattern, not the destination on the BOL.
  1. Industrial corridor within 30 miles of the last-known location.

    Truck stops, industrial cul-de-sacs, self-storage with trailer access, abandoned lots, cross-dock warehouses, low-camera fuel stops. The 10-mile radius around the last-known ping is the highest density.

  2. Back toward origin.

    Most high-volume freight regions have well-known fence corridors near the origin metro. Thieves often loop back because the obvious assumption is forward.

  3. Toward the nearest regional fence hub.

    Every region has one or two — large metros with major industrial / warehouse density and cross-dock capacity.

  4. Lateral routes.

    Interstates running perpendicular to the planned route, headed toward other fence hubs.

  5. Forward toward destination — LAST.

    Competent operators assume you will look here first, so they don't go this way. Lowest probability, but flag it anyway.

Export flag for high-value compact goods (electronics, pharma, luxury): air freight gateways and major seaports are the international resale path. Notify CBP through the FBI channel within the first 24 hours for serialized loads.
Step 4 / 5

Split your team into four threads, zero overlap.

Anything less than four parallel threads and balls drop. Each lead owns their phone and their inbox — they do not work on each other's lanes.

LE Lead

All law-enforcement calls. Single voice, single callback number. Stays on with 911, state patrol, FBI, CargoNet.

Evidence Lead

The data packet from Step 2. Nothing else. Hands the PDF to whoever needs it.

Shipper / Customer Lead

Shipper, broker, and OEM brand security if applicable. Initiates serialized-inventory and activation-monitoring on day one.

Insurance Lead

Cargo insurer, auto liability carrier, and any contracted security or recovery vendor. Notice now, claim filing later.

Step 5 / 5

What not to do.

Every one of these destroys evidence, creates legal exposure, or tips off the operator. The discipline is harder than the action list.

Read this verbatim

BOLO wording — copy and read to dispatch.

Fill the bracketed fields from your data packet. Read it word-for-word — the structure is what gets the truck and trailer onto NCIC and the plate onto ALPR queries the same call.

Request BOLO for suspected cargo theft. Commercial shipment of [commodity, piece count, declared value], [origin] to [destination]. Driver no-contact for [N] hours after [last-known event / location]. All trackers disabled. Last known location was [location, timestamp]. Vehicle is [tractor unit / plate / VIN, trailer plate / VIN]. Driver is [name / cell]. Cargo may be actively diverted or transloaded. Request NCIC entry on tractor and trailer and ALPR query on plate in both directions on all interstates radiating from the last-known location.

This is the process. We run it for you.

IsoFreight is the national freight-fraud network. When a load is hit, every minute the process runs in parallel instead of in serial. Verified login required to file — we filter scam carriers from the network at the door.

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