Highway thieves are using sophisticated digital tactics that investigators say are making it easier to steal trucks carrying millions of expensive data center equipment.
NBC News spoke with “several industry leaders, consultants and investigators advising law enforcement” who are investigating the largest thefts to date and reported that since June, thieves have “taken more than $100 million in cargo from data centers.”
Here’s how they claim the thieves get away with it: First, the thieves hack freight broker accounts on shipping listing websites and post fake shipments to attract real deals, then send a malicious link to all trucking companies that respond. Once victims click, thieves install software to take control of their accounts and start bidding on real shipments. Sometimes a real delivery driver is hired to pick up the shipment, unaware of the scam, and other times fake driver’s licenses are used to hire accomplices. Regardless, the goods are eventually transferred to a driver working with the thieves to resell the equipment and, in one of the larger thefts, tracking details were spoofed to prevent digital surveillance.
Equipment typically targeted includes “servers, fiber optic cables, computer memory chips, copper wires and bitcoin mining machines,” NBC News reported.
Some struck trailers appear to only carry data center equipment, like two stolen goods found in Illinois. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office estimated they contained spools of copper wire worth $300,000 and about $1 million in “custom-built data center modular power solutions equipment,” NBC News reported. Other affected trucks were carrying additional cargo, such as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department case where “data center cooling equipment” intended for Deepcool AI was recovered among nicotine pouches, televisions, shoes, printers, speakers and skin care cosmetics. Experts fear this means Americans could be widely affected by these thefts, not just the AI industry.
Remove off-duty police escorts
Although some stolen property was recovered, in two of the largest thefts uncovered by NBC News, no equipment was recovered and off-duty police officers hired to escort the shipments were targets of hit-and-runs.
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