Car hauling scams: double brokering, fake brokers, and how to check a load.

The scams, in plain words

• Double brokering. Someone takes a load as if they were the carrier, often under a borrowed or stolen identity, and hands it to another carrier for less. The car moves, the middleman collects, and the carrier who hauled it is not paid. FMCSA notes that "double brokering" is not defined in statute or regulation, and that most people who raised it in FMCSA's 2023 broker guidance docket meant companies acting as brokers without proper authority.
• Impersonated broker. A real broker's name and MC number, with a new email address or phone number. The load looks normal; the payment never comes. FMCSA warns that the identity of a broker's employee can be stolen too, so a familiar name on the phone proves nothing.
• Stolen carrier identity and fake pickups. Someone uses another carrier's USDOT number to pick up cars or to collect for loads. FMCSA calls using another carrier's USDOT number without permission fraud and identity theft, and treats both as criminal acts. If it is your identity, the cars are picked up in your name.
• Payment fraud. A broker that never pays, or a scammer who poses as your company and asks the broker to send your payment to a "new" bank account.

How to check a broker before you dispatch

1. Take the MC or USDOT number from the rate confirmation and look it up yourself. Use FMCSA's own record, not a link in an email. FMCSA's fraud alert points carriers to the Company Snapshot on SAFER (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov). Since 14 May 2026, FMCSA's older Licensing and Insurance site shows only historical records, and filings made in Motus, FMCSA's new registration system, do not appear there. If a record is unclear, FMCSA answers at 1-800-832-5660.
2. Check that it is a broker with active broker authority. A broker must keep a $75,000 surety bond (form BMC-84) or trust fund (form BMC-85) on file under 49 CFR 387.307, and FMCSA must suspend its registration immediately if that security falls below the required amount (49 U.S.C. 13906(b)(5)).
3. Match the contact details. Call the phone number on FMCSA's record, not the one in the email or the posting. FMCSA's advice: if the number you were given does not match, call the listed one to discuss the load, and if the record shows no phone number at all, consider not taking the work until you can confirm it.
4. Do not trust the first search result. FMCSA warns that top search results can be fake profiles set up by scammers. Confirm a phone number or website on more than one source.
5. Read the rate confirmation line by line. The broker's legal name and MC must match FMCSA's record, and a broker may not work under any other name (49 CFR 371.7(a)). Pickup and delivery names and addresses, the vehicles with their VINs, the rate and the payment terms should all be on it.
6. Hand a car only to the party on the paperwork. A new delivery address, a different receiver, or "meet another truck and swap the cars" is a stop until you confirm it with the broker on the FMCSA phone number. Inspect at pickup, photograph every car and get the receiver's signature on the bill of lading.

Every check above is the same check: does what you were told match FMCSA's record?

When to stop the deal

FMCSA lists the signs that should stop a transaction. Stop if:

• the broker asks you to present yourself as a carrier under a different name, or asks your driver to lie about who they work for;
• you question where the load is going and are told it is a "blind load";
• the broker is quick to agree to pay you more;
• the rate is far above the current market rate.

FMCSA also warns that insurance certificates can be forged. If a document looks wrong, look up the numbers and call the companies named on it. What car hauling usually pays per mile helps you spot a rate that is too good.

Is double brokering illegal?

Arranging interstate transportation for pay without broker registration is unlawful. Under 49 U.S.C. 14916(a), a person may broker only if it is registered as a broker with FMCSA and has the $75,000 financial security on file. Anyone who knowingly authorizes, consents to or permits a violation is liable to the federal government for a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation and to the injured party for all valid claims, regardless of amount (14916(c)). The company and its officers, directors and principals are jointly and severally liable (14916(d)).

Two more rules apply to brokers: a broker may not broker under any name other than the one its registration is issued in, and may not present its operations as a carrier's (49 CFR 371.7). And one rule applies to you: FMCSA says that holding a load hostage until you get paid is illegal.

A summary, not legal advice.

If a broker does not pay

The broker's $75,000 bond or trust fund is there for exactly this. Under 49 U.S.C. 13906(b), it is available to pay claims that arise from a broker's failure to pay freight charges: when the broker agrees to the payment, when it does not respond to notice and the surety finds the claim valid, or when the claim ends in a judgment. The surety must respond within 30 days of receiving the claim and give the reasons in writing if it denies it. If the broker fails financially, the surety advertises for claims for 60 days and then pays within 30 days, sharing the $75,000 pro rata when claims are larger.

File the claim with the surety, with the rate confirmation, the signed bill of lading and your invoice attached. How car haulers get paid and factoring for car haulers cover payment terms and getting the money sooner.

How to report it

• FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database at nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov. Complaints can be filed against property brokers and for registration-related misrepresentation and identity theft. By phone: 1-888-DOT-SAFT (1-888-368-7238), 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern, Monday to Friday.
• FMCSA Contact Center, 1-800-832-5660, if you are the target.
• U.S. DOT Office of Inspector General hotline, (800) 424-9071 or oig.dot.gov/hotline.
• The Federal Trade Commission, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, your local police and your state attorney general.

If someone is using your company's identity, FMCSA advises telling your insurance company, every load board and your factoring company, and making sure the phone numbers on your own SAFER record are visible and correct. If you hauled a load that turns out to have been fraudulently brokered, find out who is paying for the freight and ask to be put in touch with their broker. In many cases that broker is a victim too.

What loadez checks, and what it does not

loadez runs its own load board, separate from every other one, where brokers and shippers post free. Anyone can open it without an account.

• A broker who posts on loadez registers with its MC or USDOT number, and loadez looks that number up at FMCSA. A number FMCSA has no record of, an inactive authority, or a legal name that does not match the record is refused, and that account cannot post. Posting also needs a confirmed email address.
• The label on the load says what was checked. "Direct · Verified broker" is the label for a broker whose FMCSA record was found, with active authority and a matching legal name. A broker whose check did not come back clean on all three, for example because FMCSA could not be reached, shows only "Direct broker". A shipper has no broker authority to check, and its loads say "Shipper · not independently verified". The labels show on the open board too, before you sign up.
• On a direct post, the broker's name and email come from its account, not from text typed into the posting: the legal name on FMCSA's record when the account is verified, and the address the broker confirmed.
• Inside loadez, every broker has a page. It shows the broker's contacts, how many loads it has posted and when it was first and last seen, its usual lanes and prices. Type its MC or USDOT number and the page pulls FMCSA's record: the legal name, a warning when that name differs from the broker on the load, whether the broker authority is active, the BMC-84 bond and cargo insurance on file when FMCSA's live record reports them, and a link to open the record on FMCSA. Once you invoice a broker in loadez (Starter and up), the page adds how it paid you: average days to pay, open and overdue invoices, returned payments.
• Carriers are checked the same way. Before a carrier company can claim loads, its own MC or USDOT number goes through the same FMCSA check, on every plan, Free included.

A verified mark means FMCSA has an active record under that legal name. It is not a credit score, it does not tell you the person on the phone works there, and it does not guarantee payment. Call the number on FMCSA's record anyway. Plans and pricing.

Common questions

Is double brokering illegal?

FMCSA says double brokering is not a term defined by statute or regulation, and most people who raised it with FMCSA meant companies acting as brokers without proper authority. Brokering interstate loads without FMCSA broker registration and the $75,000 bond or trust fund is unlawful under 49 U.S.C. 14916, with a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation and liability to the injured party for all valid claims.

How do I check if a car hauling broker is legit?

Take the MC or USDOT number from the rate confirmation and look it up yourself on FMCSA's record, such as the SAFER Company Snapshot, and confirm it is a broker with active authority. Then call the phone number FMCSA lists rather than the one in the email; FMCSA advises not taking the work if the record shows no phone number until you can confirm the load.

How do I report double brokering or a fake broker?

File a complaint with FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database at nccdb.fmcsa.dot.gov, which takes complaints against property brokers and for registration-related misrepresentation and identity theft, or call 1-888-DOT-SAFT. FMCSA also points victims to its Contact Center (1-800-832-5660), the DOT Inspector General hotline (800-424-9071), the FTC, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and local police.

What can a carrier do if a broker does not pay?

Every broker must keep $75,000 of financial security on file, a BMC-84 surety bond or a BMC-85 trust fund (49 CFR 387.307). Under 49 U.S.C. 13906(b) it pays claims arising from a broker's failure to pay freight charges, and the surety must respond within 30 days of receiving the claim.

Can I hold a car until the broker pays me?

No. FMCSA's fraud guidance says holding loads hostage until you get paid is illegal. If you hauled a fraudulently brokered load, find out who is paying for the freight and contact their broker, who in many cases is also a victim.

Are brokers on the loadez load board verified?

A broker that posts on loadez registers with its MC or USDOT number, and loadez checks it against FMCSA; a number with no record, an inactive authority or a legal name that does not match is refused. A load says Verified broker when the record was found, the authority is active and the name matches. It is not a credit score, so still call the phone number on FMCSA's record.