Identity Thieves Target Customs Payments: What Miami Importers Should Do

FreightWaves reported that identity thieves are impersonating importers and customs brokers to steal payments tied to cross-border shipments, citing warnings from a Mexican foreign trade group. Urgent requests to release cargo or avoid storage charges can push employees to send money without checking. For any business that imports, exports or pays freight-related invoices, the story is a reminder that payment instructions need independent verification.

Mexican Trade Group Warns of Impersonated Customs Brokers

Identity theft and digital fraud are emerging as a growing threat to cross-border freight operations, FreightWaves reported in its weekly Borderlands Mexico rundown. Mexican trade officials warned that criminals are impersonating companies and customs brokers to steal payments associated with international shipments.

Javier Cendejas, president of the Northeast chapter of the Mexican Council for Foreign Trade, known as COMCE Noreste, said the organization has recently encountered identity-theft cases affecting importers and exporters during customs operations. He spoke at a news conference on Sept. 28, according to El Norte, as cited by FreightWaves.

In one case Cendejas described, a foreign trade company made an electronic payment it believed was going to a legitimate customs agency. Instead, according to Cendejas, a third party had stolen identities connected to the transaction and impersonated both the importer and the customs broker.

How the Scheme Works

According to Cendejas, fraudsters can create internet domains that resemble those of legitimate companies, impersonate executives and send messages claiming that the banking information for a transaction has changed. FreightWaves noted that criminals may also hold enough details about a real shipment or transaction to make a fraudulent request appear legitimate.

Timing is a large part of the risk. Cross-border freight runs on deadlines, and importers may receive urgent requests for money to release cargo or avoid storage charges. That pressure falls on whoever controls the payments. "This urgency can lead a treasury employee to make a transfer without verifying it through a second channel," Cendejas said.

He pointed to advance payments to customs brokers as a particular vulnerability. Those payments can cover a long list of items:

• Handling
• Storage
• Pre-validation
• Transportation
• Third-party services
• Other expenses associated with clearing freight through customs

That variety can make an unusual request harder to spot during a busy week.

Part of a Wider Rise in Freight Identity Fraud

The warning comes as identity-based fraud increasingly affects the broader freight industry, according to FreightWaves.

A 2026 report from identity-verification company IDScan.net found that attempted identity fraud in U.S. cargo and logistics operations increased 213% from 2023 to 2024, rising from 0.53% of transactions to 1.66%. The rate climbed another 30% in 2025 to 2.15%, based on an analysis of more than 1 million identity-verification transactions.

The methods go beyond payment fraud. FreightWaves reported in June that organized theft groups are using stolen carrier identities, spoofed emails and fraudulent driver's licenses to arrange fictitious pickups and divert shipments. Industry experts said criminals can monitor communications between shippers and carriers and use information about legitimate loads to make fraudulent transactions appear authentic.

Mexico has also been tightening verification requirements around foreign trade. Customs agents are required to maintain electronic files containing identification, contact, tax and other information for customers requesting foreign-trade operations, according to a release from Mexican authorities cited by FreightWaves.

FreightWaves summed up the significance this way: the cases show "how identity-based freight fraud is expanding beyond fictitious cargo pickups into the financial transactions required to keep cross-border shipments moving."

Practical Safeguards for Importers and Exporters

Cendejas said one safeguard is relatively simple: requests to change banking information should be independently verified through a second communications channel before money is transferred. In practice, that means not replying to the email that asked for the change, and instead calling a known contact using a number taken from existing records rather than from the message itself.

Other habits follow from the same idea:

• Keep a verified contact list. Record known phone numbers and email domains for customs brokers, carriers, freight forwarders and warehouses, and compare every payment request against it.
• Look closely at the sender's domain. A look-alike domain may differ only slightly from the real one.
• Treat urgency as a reason to slow down. A demand to pay immediately to release cargo or avoid storage charges matches the situation Cendejas described, so it deserves a second check rather than a faster transfer.
• Separate approval from execution. Requiring a second person to approve new or changed bank details adds a checkpoint before money moves.
• Confirm pickups the same way. Given the fictitious pickups FreightWaves has reported, release and pickup instructions deserve the same second-channel confirmation as payments.

Advance payments to brokers are also part of what an import really costs. Tracking them line by line, as covered in the Total Landed Cost Guide for Miami Importers, makes an unexpected charge easier to question. On the receiving side, an inbound receiving checklist gives teams a consistent way to match what arrives against what was ordered.

Also This Week: New Investment on Both Sides of the Border

The same Borderlands Mexico edition covered two infrastructure investments tied to North American trade.

LEGO Group plans to invest $400 million to expand its manufacturing complex in Ciénega de Flores, Nuevo León, adding more than 1,300 jobs and new production and warehousing capacity, according to Mexico Business News as cited by FreightWaves. The investment will be deployed through 2029 and calls for a new packing building and a high-capacity automated warehouse totaling about 62,000 square meters. Mexican Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard announced the project Sept. 24. FreightWaves noted the expansion could generate additional freight and supplier activity in northern Mexico, and LEGO expects to increase its Mexican supplier base by about 30%.

In Texas, New York-based Wafra Inc. announced that funds it advises invested in Liberty Development Partners, Gulf Inland Logistics Park and CMC Railroad. Gulf Inland is a roughly 3,900-acre industrial development in Dayton, Texas, northeast of Houston. It connects with Union Pacific and BNSF Railway through CMC Railroad, which provides switching services and storage capacity for more than 1,000 railcars. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Every new supplier relationship and shipping lane adds payment requests, invoices and pickup instructions that need to be checked.

What This Means for Businesses Using 3PL Services in Miami

The FreightWaves report centers on the U.S.-Mexico border, but the pressure points it describes are familiar to any importer: broker invoices, storage deadlines, release requests and pickup instructions. Companies that move goods through PortMiami and Port Everglades and rely on 3PL services in Miami work with the same kinds of hand-offs between brokers, carriers and warehouses.

Miami Alliance 3PL is not a licensed customs broker. It coordinates receiving of accepted goods after customs clearance with the client's licensed customs broker. Payments to the broker therefore stay between the importer and its broker, and the second-channel check Cendejas recommends belongs in the importer's own payment process. Knowing who handles which step makes it easier to question a message that does not match the usual process.

On the warehouse side, Miami Alliance 3PL operates a 20,000+ sq ft climate-controlled warehouse at 8780 NW 100th ST in Medley, 8 miles from Miami International Airport and minutes from PortMiami, with access to Port Everglades. The company is TWIC certified (TSA) for pickup and drop-off inside PortMiami and Port Everglades, as described on the TWIC PortMiami and Port Everglades pickup page. Services after clearance include container unloading, cross-docking, pallet storage, kitting and U.S. and Latin America distribution from Miami. The full list is on the Miami 3PL services page.

The team works in English and Spanish, which can help when instructions pass between partners in Latin America and the United States. Business hours are Monday-Friday 8AM-6PM EST and Saturday 9AM-2PM EST, so importers can plan verification calls with their warehouse contact within those windows. A useful step with any provider is to agree in advance on how changes to delivery addresses, pickup appointments or billing details will be communicated and confirmed.

Businesses evaluating a provider can review the FAQ, request an instant quote or reach the team through the contact page. Minimum spend is $1,000/month, and there are no long-term contracts.

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