On paper, cargo theft is cooling off. Verisk CargoNet logged 677 theft incidents across the U.S. and Canada in the second quarter of 2026 — a 26% drop from a year earlier and 14% fewer than the first quarter. Then comes the second line of the report: estimated losses hit $304.6 million, up from $135.7 million in the same quarter last year. Fewer trucks are being hit. The hits just cost a lot more.
The new math of cargo crime
Among thefts with a reported commodity value, the average loss reached $564,009 — a figure CargoNet says is skewed upward by a handful of extreme, multimillion-dollar scores. Volume is down. Precision is up.
What they're hunting now
Rising targets
Metals: 80 theft events in Q2, up from 54 a year ago — copper is still the most-stolen metal, with aluminum, nickel and tungsten climbing too
Enterprise computer and networking equipment — multimillion-dollar loads that often ship disguised as ordinary dry freight
Cryptocurrency mining hardware, prized for the same reason: huge value, plain packaging
Seafood, one of the quarter's quieter climbers
The out-of-favor list is just as telling. Auto parts, tires, protein and supplement products, OTC medications and beverage loads all declined — the low-value freight that once made up the bulk of opportunistic theft. Classic 'straight' theft — physically taking an unattended trailer — fell from 488 incidents to 378, and fictitious pickups slipped from 165 to 158.
The crime moved into the inbox
CargoNet points to business email compromise as a central tool in many of the quarter's largest thefts. Instead of breaking a kingpin lock, organized groups compromise email threads, misdirect shipments, clone motor carrier identities and double-broker loads until the freight quietly disappears. The traditional hotspots — California, Texas, South Florida and Dallas–Fort Worth — actually saw declines in unattended-trailer theft and non-delivery fraud. The risk didn't vanish; it changed shape.
“ The groups driving the largest losses are not necessarily trying to steal more freight; they are trying to identify the right shipment. ”
What carriers can do
Don't read a falling incident count as falling risk. The biggest losses now start with a compromised email account or a cloned MC number — lock down email security, verify brokers and pickup drivers independently, and treat high-value electronics and metal loads as targets even when the paperwork looks routine.
Know who you're working with
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