GPS Tracking Helps Prevent Fleet Cargo Theft

Cargo thieves who attempt cargo theft by dressing up as delivery drivers are being tracked by GPS.

The theft of trucks and their cargo has advanced in recent years as thieves become smarter and find new ways to get away with the heist. But technology is advancing even faster, so they need to think twice before attempting this crime.

One type of technology that is helping to prevent and catch thieves in their tracks is global positioning systems (GPS) technology. Originally used for military and civilians for navigation, GPS tracking technology is now helping local police find thieves and prevent crimes.

The most recent cargo thieves in Wichita, Kansas are going the simple route and dressing up as truckers to load freight from the cargo truck to their own, then simply driving off with the goods. But they don’t stand a chance against state-of-the-art GPS fleet tracking technology that helps track not just the truck, but the goods as well. These types of thieves are aware of GPS trackers, but not where they are located. They assume the cargo truck has the GPS tracker, but don’t’ realize the cargo containers have hidden trackers as well.

Cargo theft is becoming a bigger problem as some thieves use modern technology to pull off a theft, by using the Internet to start scams and steal thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from trucks. This problem is what has led truck companies to install GPS trackers on cargo containers, merchandise and the truck itself.

Some recent thefts include $82,000 worth of rib-eye steaks in Texas, $400,000 worth of king crab in California and $200,000 worth of Muenster cheese in Wisconsin.

By posing as a trucking company, the thieves provide fraudulent information to show validity to their business, including forged driver’s licenses, insurance and other documents they need to operate their trucks. They work closely with freight brokers once the goods are loaded onto their trucks, selling the goods at a discount. This isn’t just hurting the company who got scammed, but the customers who will never get the goods they paid for.

Now that GPS trackers are being used on shipments, the individual cargo containers and some of the goods themselves have a tracking device. So if the customer reports they didn’t get an item and the company tracks it down to find that all their goods were stolen by thee thieves, they can track them down. The sooner they find out about the theft, the better the tracking results. In some cases, they get word while the trucker thief is still on the road and can make an arrest. This is done by setting locations for the freight of where it should go. The company gets an alert if the truck has gone out of the designated area, signaling a theft.

All-in-all, it is helping prevent the theft and saving them thousands of dollars in the process.

You Are Here: LiveViewGPS Blog » GPS Tracking Helps Prevent Fleet Cargo Theft