Thieves are using digital deception and coordinated roadside tactics to steal high-value data center shipments. NBC News reported that more than $100 million in data center freight has been taken since June, with investigators describing a shift from opportunistic cargo theft toward planned attacks on specific loads.
How the shipments are diverted
The reported scheme can begin with freight brokers’ accounts on shipment-listing websites. Thieves post fake shipments to attract bids from trucking companies, then send a malicious link to companies that respond. Clicking the link can give the criminals control of those accounts, which they then use to bid on real shipments.
From there, the theft can involve either a legitimate driver unaware of the fraud or an accomplice hired using a fake driver’s license. The cargo is eventually transferred to a driver working with the thieves, who can move the equipment for resale. In one of the largest thefts, tracking coordinates were spoofed, interfering with digital monitoring.
The targeted goods include servers, fiber-optic cables, computer memory chips, copper wires and bitcoin mining machines. Some trailers carried equipment specifically for data centers; others combined that cargo with everyday products, suggesting the losses could reach beyond the AI industry.
Escorts and tracking have not stopped every theft
Two major cases involved shipments that disappeared after security escorts were forced to stop. One trailer carried “several hundred pounds” of “computer server equipment” worth $13 million and was headed to Fayetteville, Georgia, described as “home to one of the largest data center developments in the country.” An unmarked sedan struck the escorts’ car, leaving them behind as the trailer continued.
Gerardo Pachuca, a private investigator and former LASD cop investigating cargo theft, said the collision was deliberate: “the accident was not an accident. The bad guys wanted that load, so they intentionally took out the escorts.” None of the equipment from two of the largest thefts NBC News found was recovered.
Another shipment from California to Texas carried “server rack components estimated to be worth around $10 million.” An SUV struck the security escorts’ vehicle before the trailer sped away. The cargo had an application tracking its location, but the coordinates had apparently been spoofed, showing how a tracking tool can be undermined when the data it receives is manipulated.
Losses extend across the freight network
Stolen trailers have included cargo beyond data center equipment. In a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department case, “data center cooling equipment” bound for Deepcool AI was recovered alongside nicotine pouches, televisions, shoes, printers, speakers and skin care cosmetics.
In Illinois, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office estimated that two stolen freights contained $300,000 worth of copper wire spools and about $1 million in “custom-made data center modular power solutions equipment.” These examples suggest that a theft can disrupt several kinds of deliveries at once, even when the criminals are pursuing technology cargo in particular.
NBC News reported “nearly two dozen cargo theft incidents” since 2025 in states including California, Texas and Utah. Keith Lewis, head of operations at Verisk CargoNet, which tracks cargo thefts, said high-value technology shipments can be especially tempting targets. Experts expect the issue to grow as AI firms continue investing billions into data center infrastructure.
Security depends on checking people and routes
Investigators say stolen equipment may be broken down and sold through gray markets rather than ordinary online marketplaces. In some cases, an overseas buyer is reportedly lined up before a theft occurs, especially in regions where access to high-end technology from the US may be restricted, like China.
That supply chain makes prevention difficult: criminals can exploit email accounts, shipment instructions, driver hiring and GPS data at different points along a delivery. LASD’s Sgt. David Pantoja told NBC News that digital tactics represent a major change from the largely opportunistic highway thefts of the past.
Scott Cornell, chair of the Transported Asset Protection Association, Americas, urged freight companies to take time to vet drivers. He said, “The only way this works is if the drivers are not properly vetted.” Lawmakers are discussing responses to overseas thefts, and states affected by large losses have formed specialized task forces to trace shipments.
Companies continue to use escorts, despite attacks against them. Mike Duffy, co-founder and CEO of Solutions Group International, a Southern California security escort company, said, “we’re escorting hundreds of loads per month” and “much of it” is “associated with data centers.” The accounts in the report show that protecting such freight requires attention to the people, accounts and tracking systems that guide each shipment.