Thieves Use GPS Spoofing to Steal $100 Million in Data Center Cargo

The scheme described by Ars Technica begins on shipment-listing websites, where thieves hack freight brokers’ accounts and post fake shipments to attract real bids. They then send a malicious link to trucking companies that respond. Once a victim clicks, the thieves install software that gives them control of the company’s account, allowing them to bid on real shipments. In some cases, a real delivery driver is hired to collect the cargo without knowing about the scam; in others, fake driver’s licenses are used to get accomplices hired. The goods are eventually transferred to a driver working with the thieves, who resell the equipment. In one of the largest thefts, tracking coordinates were spoofed to prevent digital monitoring.

NBC News reported that the equipment commonly targeted includes servers, fiber-optic cables, computer memory chips, copper wires and bitcoin mining machines. Two stolen freights found in Illinois appeared to be carrying only data center equipment. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office estimated that those trailers contained $300,000 worth of copper wire spools and about $1 million in “custom-made data center modular power solutions equipment,” according to NBC News. In a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department case, “data center cooling equipment” bound for Deepcool AI was recovered among nicotine pouches, televisions, shoes, printers, speakers and skin care cosmetics.

Experts told NBC News that the thefts could harm Americans broadly, not just the AI industry. Some stolen goods have been recovered, but in two of the largest thefts NBC News found, none of the equipment was recovered. Off-duty police officers hired to escort shipments were targeted in hit-and-runs, the report said.

More broadly, cargo thieves are infiltrating email accounts to find valuable shipments, misdirecting shipments, disrupting GPS tracking and using AI to create fake driver’s licenses so accomplices can be hired as delivery drivers. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. David Pantoja told NBC News that “that’s how most of it is being done,” describing a shift from a time when highway thefts were largely opportunistic.