While FMCSA plans a massive audit of its 800,000 registered entities in an attempt to extinguish the spreading wildfire of double brokering and freight fraud, a recent deep dive into the pool of current registrants grants a shocking look at just how intense trucking's crime problem has become.
Dale Prax, a broker turned freight fraud vigilante, and Hank Seaton, a transportation attorney consulted in past on numerous different subjects (including fraud) in Overdrive, spoke about the extent of the freight fraud problem on Friday, March 22, at the Mid-America Trucking Show.
The talk, presented by CDL Drivers Unlimited and Seaton and other groups' Alliance for Safe, Efficient, and Competitive Truck Transportation (ASECTT), took place just one day after FMCSA's major announcement, and just a few doors down the hall.
In May of last year, Overdrive reported on Prax's work uncovering obvious violations within FMCSA's registration system, including hundreds of carriers and other entities registered to single principal places of business (PPOB), and 300 or so actually mocking the regulator with "[email protected]" listed as their contact email address. Prax initially uncovered that particular issue, and since that time he hasn't let off the throttle.
To start the presentation, Prax introduced himself as former Marine Corps inspector with an eye for fraud, and with perspective on FMCSA's lack of vetting for carriers and brokers -- and more outrageous, dysfunctional activity occurring right under FMCSA's nose.
"Everyone needs to realize how easy it is to get motor carrier authority," said Prax. "All you need is $300 on a Visa gift card you can buy at Walmart."
Then you need a VIN number.
