Highway thieves are using sophisticated digital tactics that investigators worry will make it easier to steal trucks carrying millions in expensive data center equipment.
NBC News spoke with “several industry leaders, consultants and investigators advising law enforcement offices” investigating the biggest thefts so far and reported that since June, thieves have “made off with more than $100 million in data center cargo.”
Here’s how they said thieves get away with it: First, thieves hack into freight brokers’ accounts on shipping-listing websites and post fake shipments to attract real deals, then they send a malicious link to any shipping company that responds. Once victims click, the crooks 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 cargo, unaware of the scam, and other times fake driver’s licenses are used to hire accomplices. Either way, the goods are eventually transferred to a driver who works with the thieves to resell the equipment and, in one of the largest thefts, the tracking coordinates were falsified to avoid digital monitoring.
Commonly attacked equipment includes “servers, fiber optic cables, computer memory chips, copper cables and bitcoin mining machines,” NBC News reported.
Some impacted trailers appear to be transporting only data center equipment, such as two stolen shipments found in Illinois. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office estimated they contained $300,000 worth of spools of copper wire and about $1 million worth of “custom-made modular data center power solutions kits,” NBC News reported. Other affected trucks were carrying additional cargo, such as in 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 worry that means the thefts could harm Americans broadly, not just the artificial intelligence industry.
Eliminate off-duty police escorts
While some stolen goods have been recovered, in two of the largest thefts NBC News found, none of the equipment was found, and off-duty police officers hired to escort the shipments were targets of hit-and-runs.
