In this episode, host Madelyn O’Farrell sits down with Scott Cornell, VP of Transportation Risk Strategy and Crime and Theft at LogistIQ Insurance Solutions, to explore how cargo theft has evolved from localized theft into more sophisticated strategic theft. Scott traces his career and explains the difference between straight theft and strategic theft, describes how international crime rings now coordinate much of the activity, and notes the sharp rise in strategic theft. He also questions widely cited loss estimates, points to the broader costs they miss, walks through schemes such as double brokering, MC number fraud, and the Trojan Driver Scam, and discusses insurance and liability challenges. The conversation closes with prevention through staff education, sound processes, careful driver and carrier vetting, and pickup verification tools.

Highlights from their conversation include:

• Introducing Scott Cornell and His Cargo-Theft Expertise (0:28)
• Why “Freight Fraud” Isn’t a Separate Theft Category (2:00)
• Why the Industry Should Focus on Becoming a Harder Target (3:29)
• How Cargo Theft Shifted From Local Crews to International Crime Rings (5:45)
• Why Cargo-Theft Statistics Understate the True Cost of Losses (11:14)
• How Double-Brokering Scams and MC Number Fraud Hijack Loads (15:42)
• How the Trojan Driver Scam Turns Trusted Drivers Into Insider Threats (18:21)
• Background Checks That Can Help Prevent Planted-Driver Theft (22:24)
• How Cargo Theft Is Changing Insurance Coverage and Costs (23:01)
• Why Liability for Strategic Cargo Theft Can Be Hard to Determine (25:51)
• Why Pickup Verification, Staff Training, and Vetting Processes Matter (29:11)

Dynamo Ventures is a venture firm backing founders upgrading the physical economy. As intelligence moves into critical infrastructure and technology collides with physics, industry is entering a new era of transformation - the industrial renaissance.

Born from the dirt and grit of supply chains and shaped by operations, not spreadsheets, Dynamo focuses on the complex realities of building in the real world. We invest in companies transforming infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and the systems that power global commerce.

Dynamo works closely with founders who combine ambition with a bias to action, bringing a builder mindset to venture capital through deep operational insight, systematic pressure-testing and hands-on partnership.

Our purpose is simple: to back the relentless shaping the industrial renaissance. Learn more at www.dynamo.vc.

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