Trust signals / Baseline field notes

Freight fraud red flags: questions to investigate

A red flag is an unresolved question. Make the next check explicit before drawing a conclusion.

The person and the record do not line up

When supplied contact information differs from the public record or an established business contact, identify exactly what differs. Confirm the person and instructions through a route independent of the communication being checked. Record the response.

A message asks you to bypass your usual check

Unexpected urgency, new instructions or a link to a lookalike government page should lead you back to an independently opened source. FMCSA publishes examples of impersonation messages and misleading websites. A logo in an email is not authentication.

Several records share a phone or address

An overlap can help you form a question, but ordinary shared premises and services also create matches. Check the field, its source and the observation time. Do not publish a fraud label based on the match.

Keep evidence and use your escalation process

Retain the original communication, the identifiers, the discrepancy and your independent confirmation attempts. Use your organization’s process for unresolved identity or instructions. For current official reporting options, follow FMCSA’s fraud alerts page. Baseline has no community-report or blacklist service.

Official sources

Referenced for the definitions and source checks in this article. Check the official page for current instructions.

Put the record in context

Start with an identifier.

Find the company, compare the facts and follow the source.

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