With fraud on the rise across the industry, it’s more important than ever to protect your trucks and cargo. Read these guidelines to make sure you’re staying safe from dispatch to delivery.
Secure Your Account*
- Set up User Management to give each person in your organization their own log in, and avoid the risks of sharing account details.
- Assign each person a role, and decide who can see sensitive business information.
- Multi-factor authentication is automatically enabled. Set up your phone number as the verification method.
- Owners and admins should review the user history regularly to monitor unexpected changes.
Protect Your FMCSA Details
- Use strong passwords and never share your FMCSA details with anyone.
- Make sure that your USDOT# and authorization status is up-to-date on Central Dispatch, so shippers can easily verify you.
Identify Common Scams
- Be wary of unusually high offers, they are usually a sign of fraudulent behavior. If an offer looks too good to be true, it probably is.
- If you ever see a different carrier’s name on a Bill of Lading, it’s likely they are double brokering a load.
- Scammers will often pose as shippers and offer extra money to reroute vehicles. So be cautious of anyone requesting to change a vehicle’s pick-up location.
Secure Communications During Transit
- Encourage shippers to dispatch vehicles to you using our fully electronic dispatch system: it greatly reduces the risk of falling victim to fake texts and phone calls.
- Be sure to assign each load to a specific driver, so shippers can easily verify driver identity at pickup.
- If a shipper requests to change delivery instructions, it’s important to update the dispatch sheet in Central Dispatch to match.
Review After Drop-Off
- After delivery, always rate and review your carrier partner. It’s a great way to help others avoid bad actors, and create a more transparent marketplace.
- You can choose to publish your review later at a later date, you can more confidently and honestly rate your partners.
Trust Our Team
- Our newly-formed Marketplace Integrity team is constantly evolving our vetting processes and enhancing integrity across the transportation lifecycle.
- We’re partnering with other industry leaders to lobby Congress, advocating for stronger protections against automotive fraud and encouraging action and accountability from the FMCSA.
Learn more about staying safe while transporting vehicles at centraldispatch.com/secure
*While Central Dispatch is here to support you with best practices to keep your account secure, you are responsible for any conduct that occurs on your account.
Transactional Ratings offer the clearest picture of every user’s past performance, helping you avoid bad actors and find reliable partners.
We get it, as an established business, you share your Central Dispatch account username and password with employees because it’s critical that they have easy access to the platform, and you trust them with that information.
Unfortunately, with fraud on the rise in the logistics industry, trust is not enough. If just one of your employees falls victim to an identity theft scheme and your account credentials are stolen, your entire business is compromised.
That’s why it’s critical to set up User Management. This gives each employee or contractor on your team their own account and login credentials, and lets you set their security permissions. So even if one person is compromised by identity theft, bad actors still can’t gain access to your full Central Dispatch account or view sensitive business information.
So, why not play it safe? Watch this short tutorial for everything you need to know about getting started with User Management, and setting up your team members’ accounts.
Here are some other User Management tips and security best practices for improving account security:
- Assign each employee an appropriate “User Type” based on their role in your operation and what actions you want them to be able to take in the platform.
- Regularly review the “History” tab (visible to Owners and Admins) to monitor user activity and track account changes.
- Use complex, unique passwords and update them every 90 days for maximum account security.
- Use a separate, business-related email address for Central Dispatch activity.
- If you or one of your employees receives an MFA code without attempting to log in, you should change your password immediately.
- Never share your email credentials with anyone.
Protect your business by setting up User Management today – it’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve your account security.
We answer customer questions about fraud and how to ship safely on the platform.
Transcript:
Lainey:
Thanks for joining us today. We wanted to just take some time to talk about something that is really important and matters to all of us, and that is trust and safety in the auto transport industry. We know that in the industry we are seeing a challenge with fraud. And at Central Dispatch, we have made it a top priority to provide a secure and reliable marketplace so that our customers and the industry as a whole can ship vehicles safely and securely. So this is really some answers to a Q&A that we have today. And it’s just one of the ways that we are listening to you all. We want to directly address the questions that you all have and that you’ve shared with us. We appreciate you all providing your feedback. And we’re here to help answer some of those questions and clarify what we’re doing and what you can do and how we can move forward together to collaborate and address this industry challenge.
So maybe just to start with a couple of quick intros and then we can jump into the questions. I’m Laney Sibble and I lead the Central Dispatch business.
Caleb:
Hi, and I’m Caleb and I lead our marketplace integrity efforts for Central Dispatch.
Lainey:
Awesome. So maybe let’s start with one of the foundational questions and one that we heard the most. And that is one around, you know, what protections do you all have using the Central Dispatch platform?
So I want to start out by saying, I want to assure everyone, as the logistics marketplace, Central Dispatch is continually innovating and investing across our operations and our platform to enable quick and secure vehicle transport. We’re doing things like providing protections on the platform. We’re monitoring user behavior. We’re offering security-enhancing tools and solutions to all of our users. And then we’re of course responding to reported incidents when we do find any issues have occurred. We’re doing things like utilizing the power of the great Cox Automotive cybersecurity team to monitor for bad actors. We’re monitoring the dark web. We’re taking down phishing sites. As I mentioned, we are providing our users with tools that allow the execution of vehicle transportation transactions to be as safe and secure as possible. We provide tools like user management so that not everyone is sharing a username and password. Everyone has their own login with their own permission levels. We have great company profiles for every single user on the Central Dispatch platform where you can see how long a company has been active on the platform. What are their credentials with the FMCSA? What kind of ratings do they have from other companies that they have done business with in the past? And then we provide great tools to actually facilitate that transaction. So tools for dispatching, for assigning a specific driver, not just a company. A mobile app for carriers to use to inspect vehicles at pickup and drop off and provide real-time tracking on where the vehicle is throughout that entire transportation process. So we’re providing a lot of really, really great tools. But at the end of the day, the transaction is really between the shipper and the carrier. So while we are providing these great tools, we’re doing a lot of verification, we also recommend that you all, our users, take some extra steps to do your own verification as well before entering into any kind of transaction.
Caleb:
Awesome. We also received another question. Why do you allow companies that have multiple bad ratings, including fraud, to still operate?
I really appreciate this question, and it kind of gets down to the root of what we do every day here at Central Dispatch. I will say that we take fraud and fraudulent activity, and reports of fraud, extremely seriously. We do not allow fraudulent companies to operate when we have knowledge of it. And there’s many, many things that we actually do to identify fraudulent activity. We actively monitor the ratings that are submitted on our platform. And if there are clear signs of fraudulent activity, we investigate and we don’t hesitate to remove companies who have been found to have been committing fraud. We’ve also introduced some real-time analysis, including risk analysis and risk reporting to help proactively identify fraud before it occurs. In summary, there are a multitude of things that go into a fraud report, and we do want to make sure that we take a holistic view of the scenario before we take action, but we don’t hesitate in taking that action and removing companies that no longer need to be on the platform.
Lainey:
So let’s next move over to a question that we heard, and I’d love to demystify a myth here. So one of the statements that we heard or questions asked was around, why don’t we notify others once we have determined that someone is fraudulent or someone has been accused of being fraudulent?
I want to start by saying that is absolutely not correct. We do step in and take proactive action, and I understand the concern here. So when there is a carrier who is accused of something as serious as vehicle theft, it of course raises a risk for anyone who might be involved. You know that said we have a lot of customers, a lot of transactions flowing through Central Dispatch, and of course we take our responsibility to verify the facts very seriously before we take any kind of action so we have a great fraud response team; we are investigating all reports thoroughly. And when we ultimately determine that there is clear evidence of misconduct or fraud, we take very swift action, including removing the fraudulent or the bad actor from our platform, and then notifying others who we believe could potentially be impacted to protect them from becoming victims. So we definitely take a really strong stance here. And this year alone, we have already removed well over 900 different companies from the Central Dispatch platform. So, you know, just demonstrating we don’t hesitate here. We take it very seriously.
Caleb:
Absolutely. And to kind of add on to that, in addition to the bad actor companies that have already been removed from the platform, Central Dispatch today reviews applications as well. And before we even allow somebody on the platform, we take extensive measures to make sure that they are who they say they are. And so in addition to the 900 that have been removed from the platform, there’s been countless others that have been prevented from joining the platform in that same spirit.
There’s another really great question that was asked around why have you allowed fraudulent companies to pose as real ones?
I would also kind of like to clarify some myths around this one as well. Central Dispatch does not allow fraudulent companies that are posing as other companies to join Central Dispatch. We have heard of instances in which companies have made it on the platform that do not actually represent the company that they are claiming to be. But we do have a very robust verification process. We have extensive onboarding processes that our team members follow to make sure that we are investigating credentials, reviewing authority, checking with the FMCSA to make sure that this company actually has legitimate authority to operate on our roads. And additionally, there are some things that we are working on in the background at Central Dispatch and may roll out in the future, such as identity verification and additional controls to basically, identify companies before they actually make it on the platform.
Lainey:
Great. So another question we heard, and this is a great one, is how as shippers can we be sure that the carrier is not fraudulent? What can we do here?
And I love this one because one of the things that we’re very focused on is best practices. And we are taking our commitment to educate our users and the industry as a whole on how to stay safe very, very seriously. So Central Dispatch is providing our shippers with great tools to verify a carrier before doing business with them. We really just need to make sure everyone’s using them. So what specifically am I talking about here? Well, before you decide to work with the carrier, we would recommend you go to the carrier’s company profile page. You look at their ratings. What have others said about that carrier when they’ve transacted with them before? You think about, you know, when you buy something on Amazon, you’re buying dish towels, let’s say, and they cost ten dollars. And you look at those reviews to see what others have said about those dish towels. Did they work? Did they did they wipe things up? Were they a good bang for your buck? And so we’d really recommend you do the same thing here before deciding to have a carrier move your very expensive assets. You can check on that company profile. When was the company created? When did they join Central Dispatch? And you want to think about, you know, if you have a high-value vehicle you’re moving, you want to feel really good about who you’re deciding to enter into business with. So really taking all of these things into account. Then once you decide, I am going to work with this carrier, we’d recommend that you require that your carrier designate a specific driver to pick up that vehicle so that at the pickup location, that representative or that agent at the location is not only looking at is this the carrier that should be picking up the vehicle, but also is this the person who should be picking up the vehicle? And they can review the identity of that individual. We also at Central Dispatch through our mobile app, provide real-time tracking on where the location of your vehicle is all the way
from pickup to delivery. So again, mandate that your carrier use the app and provide that real-time tracking right back to you. And then from an insurance standpoint, you know, we’d recommend asking to be added as an additional insured on the carrier certificate of insurance and request proof that this action was taken. I recognize these are some extra steps. It’s going to take a bit of extra time up front, but it can absolutely save time and headaches down the road.
Caleb:
We received another great question. How do I know fraud is happening?
Similar to the previous question around steps that you can take to help protect yourself from fraud, there’s some similar things that you can watch out for to identify if fraud is happening before you fall victim to it. A couple of telltale signs are conflicting information. So if the company that you have booked transport with does not match the individual who is showing up to pick up the vehicle, that’s a pretty good sign that they may not be acting in good faith and that you may be present with a bad actor. We would recommend that you verify information on their profile on Central Dispatch with information that shows up on the FMCSA. To that end, we’ve also provided the FMCSA verification checklist so that our users can identify whether information matches or whether there may be a mismatch so that you can do your own additional vetting as well. You could also pay attention to things like the load details. If there’s load details that are unusually vague or don’t have all the information that you would expect to see, could be a potential sign of fraudulent activity. Additionally, if pricing seems too good to be true, or if there’s just details that don’t make sense about the transaction, we would recommend taking an extra second and making sure that you are in fact transacting with who you intend to be. Lastly, the driver picking up the vehicle, if they are not affiliated with the company that you intended to dispatch the vehicle to, that is a telltale sign that fraud may be happening. You can ask for things like insurance documentation, certificate of insurance. You could ask to see the driver’s license and help match that against the information that you know to be true. Regardless Central Dispatch is doing all that we can to help provide the circumstances for a very secure transaction but we always encourage our users to do their own verification and vetting to make sure that they’re staying safe as best as possible.
Lainey:
Yeah that’s absolutely right Caleb, everyone plays a role here in combating fraud in industry. Another question that we saw was around insurance and the question around why is it possible for carriers with expired or no insurance to operate?
So I want to assure everyone first and foremost that our verification process does ensure that carriers have both operating authority as well as valid insurance on file before they’re activated. We also do monitor insurance status on an ongoing basis. But the truth is insurance can lapse. It can be canceled. And, you know, I’ll go back to that statement around everyone has a role here. We’re verifying insurance and onboarding. We’re looking for evidence of expired or canceled insurance. But at the same time, we’d recommend that you also verify insurance before you dispatch each vehicle. Make sure it’s still active and that you feel confident that that protection is there.
Caleb:
This next question is a great one. I reported a company. Nothing was done. What are you guys doing about fraud when I report it?
Well, I first would like to say I hope that that’s not the case. We always want to make sure that our customers are feeling heard and that reports of fraud are taken seriously. In fact, Central Dispatch does take every single report of fraudulent activity very seriously, and we do perform a full investigation. To that end, you may not always hear back immediately around actions that we’re taking. In fact, we may not always provide the results of those investigations. But we do want to reassure everybody that when fraud is reported, we open up a full investigation. We may also reach out to you. So pay attention to any phone calls or emails that you may receive from Central Dispatch asking for a little more information around what you’ve seen. But in the end, ultimately what we’ll do is if we do identify fraudulent activity has occurred, we will take action and remove companies that should not be on the platform for everybody’s safety. We also always recommend that if you are a victim of fraudulent activity, maybe a stolen vehicle, we always recommend reaching out to local law enforcement, filing a police report in the jurisdiction where the theft occurred so that you can get all the help that you need to help recover this vehicle.
Lainey:
Another question that we saw was around our rating system. And a statement saying the rating system is flawed, people can lie.
Of course, that’s true, that people can lie in ratings. However, ratings are a really effective tool within marketplaces to help drive confident decisions and provide transparency about the history of different companies. You know, I’ll go back to my Amazon example where before you decide to buy anything on Amazon, you are looking at ratings to see what has been other people’s experience when they purchase that item or purchased from that vendor. We recently updated our rating systems to allow detailed feedback on each transaction that can be published after a delay to help prevent any kind of retaliation so that you don’t have to fear, well, if I am honest and explain what happened here, that that other party is then going to say something that’s false about me because you can actually have that rating held and only published after which the other entity does not have a chance to respond. They can only submit their own rating. Ratings are visible on company profiles before deciding to do business with someone else. And we highly recommend taking a look at those ratings, looking for anything that might not be fraudulent, but something where you just don’t want to get into a business relationship with that other party.
Caleb:
We also received another comment around booking with fake carriers. Somebody had mentioned an experience they had in which they booked four times with fake carriers.
That’s not the experience that we want to provide, and that’s not the experience we expect you to have here at Central Dispatch. But we do want to be transparent in saying that fraud is on the rise. Fraud isn’t just a Central Dispatch issue. In fact, it’s an industry-wide issue that we are combating right now. We’re paying very close attention to some of the schemes that bad actors are using, including posing as companies, being fraudulent in very many ways. But really, fraud is a very small percentage and a very small percentage of all the transactions that happen within Central Dispatch. But when it does happen, we understand it’s a very negative experience. We are investing heavily in our processes and our people and in our technology to find different ways to help identify fraudulent activity before it occurs. And we’re also providing users many different ways that they can actually perform their own vetting and do their own due diligence in identifying carriers. Lainey mentioned some great tips about the rating system, checking out company profiles, seeing how long somebody has been on Central Dispatch and how they’ve interacted with others are all great tools that you can use to identify whether a company is going to be acting in good faith or not.
Lainey:
Another question that we received is around what information we’re gathering from new transporters joining the platform.
We have a robust verification and gatekeeping process. And so before anyone is activated, we look at key business details to help protect our marketplace. So we are looking at operating authority, managed through the FMCSA. We’re looking for proof of insurance. We are exploring ways to verify the identity of individuals who are joining as well. And then we’ll monitor for
changes or inconsistencies. So if there’s been a sudden change to contact details or business information upstream of Central Dispatch, we will often flag or hold an account and not move forward because we want to make sure when things settle, when the dust settles there, that all looks okay and that it’s not a sign of a bad actor. As the market evolves, we are always revisiting this process and finding new and different ways and processes to incorporate into our gatekeeping because we don’t want bad actors on our platform as much as you. And so we’re really, we are aligned here and we’re working on this together.
Caleb:
We’ve got another great question around, is it possible to FaceTime applicants to verify identity, verify the truck, verify the license information?
Really great question. And to be transparent, we do recommend keeping as much of your communication with individuals on the platform, keeping it on the platform as much as possible. While making outbound phone calls and speaking with applicants may not necessarily be a bad idea. We also recommend taking advantage of the many tools that we have on our platform, such as the rating system, the company profile, the FMCSA verification checklist, and other tools that we provide to help provide you that peace of mind that you are working with the person that you should be to have this vehicle moved.
Lainey:
One of the other questions we received was around why are fraudsters or bad actors able to get information off of the load board? I understand the concern here. And, you know, it’s one of the many reasons why we make fraud prevention one of our top priorities. You know, what I’ll say is these fraudsters are, they’re sophisticated. They’re constantly evolving their tactics to appear legitimate. And in some cases they are able to pose as a real carriers or real brokers, at least initially, but we’re working really hard to tighten our access controls and respond to that evolution in these new tactics, so that only verified active carriers and brokers can access any kind of load information. Also really important to mention, we only show on the load board the information that is absolutely necessary for a carrier to make a decision about whether that is an appropriate vehicle for them to move. Do they have the right equipment? We absolutely do not show the VIN information on our load board. There is no need for that information to be shared at that stage, and we would not do that. We are using automated detection tools and manual review and onboarding. We are continually investing in ways to monitor user behavior after a customer joins because we know that fraud doesn’t always show up on day one. And we need a way to monitor behavior on an ongoing basis and proactively take action at the sign of anything suspicious.
Caleb:
Another question asks, how is Central Dispatch helping brokers prevent double brokering and uninsured operations?
I really enjoy this question. This is something that we talk about on a daily basis here at Central Dispatch. We understand double brokering is very pervasive and it’s very problematic for everybody involved. Central Dispatch does not support double brokering, and we’re doing all that we can to help you identify transactions that may not be in anybody’s best interest. In addition to the things that we’ve mentioned prior, such as the FMCSA verification checklist, checking out a company’s ratings history, how they’ve performed with others, there are some things that Central Dispatch is also doing internally. We are taking a look at using data modeling and data-driven transaction history to identify fraudulent activity before it may occur. We also take a look at the entirety of our load board and can identify things such as transactions that are duplicative in nature, identifying suspicious activity. And then, of course, as always, we are very quick to remove activity and remove companies that are acting fraudulently. To date, we’ve removed over 950 accounts and will continue to do so for everyone that should not be on the platform. We do take double broking very seriously and are here to provide you with anything that we can to help identify transactions and make better decisions. But we always encourage you to call us and email us and report any activity that you may find suspicious.
Lainey:
Absolutely. This next question is one that we’ve addressed, but a bit from different angles. So I do want to revisit it and add a few pieces of information here. This question is around, what does Central Dispatch do to ensure carriers are properly vetted? But it has the added statement of, I see many carrier haulers operating with illegal papers taped to their windows.
So we understand your concern. And you’re not alone in noticing questionable behavior like MC numbers taped to a window. So as we’ve discussed, at Central Dispatch, we are verifying each new carrier’s authority before allowing them on the platform. We’re looking at their authority to operate, their insurance. We’re exploring ways to look at the individual’s identity before they’re allowed to operate. But that said, we can’t prevent fraud on our own. It’s really going to take everyone playing their role here to combat fraud in the industry. So when you think about that piece of paper that has an MC number taped to a window, pickup locations, the place where the vehicle is sitting when it is picked up, they need to play their part as well so when the carrier shows up to pick up that vehicle, check for the name driver on the dispatch sheet and see if the person standing there is the driver that’s named and watch for anything that feels off, so if you see incomplete documents, you see temporary numbers, a taped up sign, call the shipper. Ask them some questions. Make sure that you feel confident that this is the right person and the right company picking up this vehicle, because it is going to take everyone working together to keep the Central Dispatch marketplace, but really the industry at large, safe.
Caleb:
We got another question around why we would allow brokers without valid bond to still post details and post loads on Central Dispatch. They mentioned that this puts carriers at risk of not getting paid and it happens more and more often.
I want to thank whoever shared this question as well, because this is something that’s very important to us. We do not knowingly allow brokers to post loads without valid bond information. Verifying bond and insurance is one of the requirements in order to actually make it onto Central Dispatch. But there’s also some things that we are going to be introducing soon as well that will help individuals identify whether somebody has the right credentials and whether they actually have an active bond. We always encourage you to go to the FMCSA’s website, check out a company’s history. Their bond information will always be present on the FMCSA website as well for you to verify and identify whether or not something is still active and in place so that you can make better decisions.
Lainey:
Great. Another couple of questions we received were really around, they had a focus on VINs. So one of them is why can anyone with a VIN and your make model post a vehicle they don’t own? Only owners should post to avoid scams.
So on this one, on Central Dispatch, both vehicle owners as well as authorized brokers are allowed to post vehicles for transport. What matters is that the person who is posting that vehicle has a legitimate right to move that vehicle, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they own it. We are strengthening our policies and monitoring activity to prevent fraudulent posts or posted vehicles where that entity does not have the authority to actually move that vehicle. But again, we can’t limit it to ownership because that does not encompass the entirety of Central Dispatch. So keeping the marketplace secure is really a shared responsibility, and we’re providing the most secure tools and best practices to help you stay secure.
Caleb:
Along the same line, somebody asks, why is it allowed for multiple brokers to post the same vehicle at the same time? Shouldn’t VIN be mandatory to prevent duplicates? They also mention the same vehicle is posted by different brokers, dispatched vehicles that are already dispatched by somebody else.
This is a great call out and a great question. With this, I’d respond, at Central Dispatch, there are certain cases and certain situations where a vehicle owner may work with multiple brokers at the same time. They may shop around, they may try to find the one that they feel is the best for them and their situation. To that end, you may see the same vehicle posted multiple times. We do understand that this may create additional noise in the marketplace and it may be confusing for carriers and being able to understand what really is out there and what’s available to be picked up. We are actively working on ways to improve how we detect and manage duplicate posts. We are working with our brokers and other customers to help educate and make aware on different ways that they can manage their own business. But when they do appear to be part of suspicious or abusive behavior, we absolutely take action and we take it very seriously.
Lainey:
Another question that we received was really around multifactor authentication and the security protocols we have in place before accessing the Central Dispatch platform. And the statement was, asking for a code every time I log in from the same device is annoying. Aren’t you able to recognize the devices and provide security that way?
And I understand the annoyance, I do. But what I’ll also say, it is best practice to use multi-factor authentication at every login and it’s an even elevated level of security to always authenticate through phone versus email because it is less susceptible to being compromised by bad actors. Recognizing it is an extra step, it takes a little bit of time, but it is very well warranted in helping to make sure that no one is accessing your account who is not authorized to do so.
Caleb:
This next question involves payment and post-delivery protection. Somebody asked, how can carriers be protected when dealers and shippers don’t pay? They also mentioned that brokers may not pay when the vehicle is being delivered.
To that end, we would say that we understand that payment is a major concern for carriers. We always want to make sure that carriers get paid and that they feel comfortable conducting business on Central Dispatch. Central Dispatch does not handle or facilitate payments directly. It’s not something we have historically done, but we do provide tools to help users identify trustworthy brokers and avenues for individuals to report instances of non-payment and fraudulent activity. Soon, we also plan to introduce payment facilitation options to help make these transactions more secure and reliable. So we have heard you. We do understand it is something that we’d like to roll out in the future. We don’t currently do it now, but we still do encourage you to take advantage of the other tools that we have provided to help identify whether somebody is going to be acting above board or not.
Lainey:
Great. And I think the last question we want to hit today was one that we heard around seeing all this fraud. So, you know, why don’t we have these problems with the old system? Why should we pay what we’re paying today for a service that can’t prevent fraud?
And I understand that. I wish we could prevent all the fraud that’s occurring in the industry. But truly, fraud is an industry issue. It is up across the industry, not just on the Central Dispatch platform. It’s on other platforms. It happens upstream and downstream of platforms in both the digital and the physical environment. I will assure you that it still represents a very small percentage of all the vehicles that are moved, all the transactions that take place on our platform and in the industry at large. But I understand that when something happens, it is impactful and has an outsized impact. And so we are taking it extremely seriously. It is our top priority right now at Central Dispatch to help ensure that the industry can continue to move vehicles safely and securely. At the end of the day, everyone has a role to play in combating fraud. We are playing a strong role. We want to arm all of you with the tools to execute safe and secure transactions. And together, we can definitely make a dent in this industry issue. At the end of the day, you know, everything that we do here at Central Dispatch starts with you, our clients. Keep bringing us your questions. Keep bringing us your input because it’s helping us to shape a safer, a better experience for everyone.
In this customer video, we talk to Grant Flynn, who turned to Central Dispatch when he wanted start buying vehicles from outside his local market. Since then, he’s gained a true transportation partner who gives him the flexibility and reliability he needs to ship cars cross country on time, and on his terms.
See everything this new team of security experts is doing to keep both shippers and carriers safe throughout the transportation process.
The Central Dispatch dashboard is getting even better. You can now customize to show whichever widgets you’d like that are most relevant to your business. Showcase what’s most important to you while hiding anything you don’t need to see in order to save time and streamline your view.
Sign in to begin customizing your dashboard today!
For shipper best practices, access our shipper security guide here.
Together, we can make the logistics industry safer
With fraud on the rise in our industry, protecting your cargo and your business has never been more important. But everyone has a role to play – while we’ve taken major steps to secure our marketplace, it’s important that you also take steps to protect yourself.
Be sure to read our best practices for securing your account and every step of your transaction from dispatch to delivery, so you can use Central Dispatch with maximum confidence and security.
Secure Your Account
Sharing your sign-in details with others, even people who work for you, can expose you to fraud and unauthorized access. So, we highly recommend setting up User Management as soon as you open your account with us.
This gives contractors, employees, or people outside your organization their own Central Dispatch login credentials, and minimizes the risks of identity theft when sharing your own account credentials. You can also set guardrails on what business information they can view, helping you avoid potential account security risks.
Plus, with reinforced multi-factor authentication, every Central Dispatch account has an extra layer of protection from unauthorized access. Your phone number is the preferred verification method, and the most secure.
Be sure to be cautious about who you add as a user, and always vet any third party companies or contractors before giving them an account under User Management. Account owners and admins should regularly review the user activity history to monitor for unexpected changes.
While Central Dispatch is here to support you with best practices to keep your account secure, you are responsible for any conduct that occurs on your account.
- Learn more about setting up User Management
- See how you can secure your account with the User Management security video
Protect Your FMCSA Details
Many cases of fraud start when bad actors steal FMCSA details and pose as legitimate carriers. It’s critical to keep yours secure by using strong passwords and never sharing your log-in info for any platform.
Additionally, you should make sure that your USDOT# and authorization status is up-to-date on Central Dispatch, so shippers can easily verify you and feel confident partnering with you. You can also upload insurance documentation to further stand out as a vetted, trusted carrier.
- Learn more about our FMCSA checklist
Know How To Identify Common Scams
One common sign of a fraudulent load is an unusually high listing price. Scammers will lure carriers with high-ball offers in order to carry out a double-brokering scheme, or simply to lower the price once a carrier accepts a load. So, if an offer appears too good to be true, it probably is. Use our Price Check tool to better understand typical market rates and help you assess whether a load offer seems legitimate.
Another clear sign of double-brokering is seeing a different carrier’s name on a Bill of Lading. Make sure to always request documentation ahead of time, so you and your drivers can check through and look for any inconsistencies, and avoid being caught in double brokering.
Be extremely cautious of anyone requesting to change a vehicle’s pick-up location. Scammers will often pose as shippers and offer drivers extra money to reroute vehicles to a new location where they are waiting to steal it. It’s critical to verify that any text, call, email or any type of communication is from the assigned shipper before following any new delivery instructions. Often, it’s best to simply ignore any calls like this, and ask that shippers only give you new instructions within the Central Dispatch platform.
- See how you can verify and review shippers with the Transactional Ratings security video
Secure Communications During Transit
Dispatching and communicating through private phone calls, emails, and texts exposes you to fraud, so it’s best to keep as much communication as possible within our platform.
We highly recommend never accepting a dispatch sheet via email. Encourage shippers to dispatch vehicles to you using our fully electronic dispatch system: this greatly reduces the risk of falling victim to fake texts and phone calls, and allows shippers to more easily keep tabs on shipments. You should also assign a driver to each load, so your pickup location can verify the identity of the individual picking up the vehicle.
Additionally, if a shipper requests to change any delivery instructions, it’s important to update the dispatch sheet in Central Dispatch to match those new instructions.
- Learn more about our dispatch experience
- See how you can secure communications with this security video
We also highly recommend you and your drivers use the Central Dispatch carrier mobile app. This not only allows you to send vehicle location updates directly to shipping partners, but it also enables load tracking – helping you provide greater peace of mind to shippers, build trust, and strengthen your reputation in the marketplace.
- Learn more about the carrier app
- Learn more about Real-Time Tracking
- See how you can use the Central Dispatch carrier app to provide more transparency to shippers in this security video
Review After Dropoff
After the delivery is complete, always rate and review your carrier partner honestly. It’s a great way for the Central Dispatch community to help each other avoid bad actors, reward honest carriers who do good work, and create a more transparent marketplace for everyone. You can also choose to publish your review later at a later date, you can more confidently and honestly rate your partners.
In the Event of Fraud
If you do fall victim to fraud on our platform, it’s critical to immediately contact the authorities and file a police report in the jurisdiction of the incident. Provide any information you can to local law enforcement, report the incident to the USDOT’s Inspector General, file a complaint with the FMCSA National Consumer Complaint Database, or contract the Federal Trade Commission.
- Contact the Federal Trade Commission: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov
We also encourage you to report the incident to our new Marketplace Integrity Team. These are dedicated transportation experts who are here to take serious action when necessary, and permanently remove known bad actors from our platform.
- Contact the Marketplace Integrity Team: CentralDispatchFraudClaims@coxautoinc.com
Steps We’re Taking To Help You Transport Cars Safely
Central Dispatch is making significant strides in addressing this challenge in our industry, and addressing this challenge in our industry so that vehicles can be transported safely and securely.
We are constantly evolving our vetting process alongside the changing market landscape to ensure only legitimate companies gain access to our marketplace, and carriers can more confidently find legitimate loads.
We’ve also formed the Marketplace Integrity Team that is dedicated to combating fraud and helping you stay secure. This team collaborates directly with Cox Security and other enterprise teams to investigate issues, deactivate fraudulent accounts, and proactively protect our customers.
- See how the Marketplace Integrity Team is supporting our customers in this security video.
We all play a part in building a safer, more secure marketplace for shipping vehicles. Let’s keep working together to protect our industry from fraud and ensure Central Dispatch remains a trusted platform for everyone.
See how we can help shippers find reputable carrier partners with FMCSA details, insurance information, and Transactional Ratings.