Previously in the “Broker reforms” series: Critics say trust fund surety fails to protect truckers in claims against brokers
In December, Walkabout Transport owner-operator Debbie Desiderato got a call from Grizz Logistics. The broker said Desiderato’s driver couldn’t run the load he’d negotiated because she didn’t have reefer breakdown insurance.
With that news, she realized there was a much bigger problem. “I don’t have a driver,” she told the broker, “and I don’t have a reefer.”
For weeks thereafter, Desiderato was convinced someone had used her DOT number in offering to move Grizz’s load. The broker had been convinced briefly, too, after having examined Desiderato’s insurance certificate in the course of conducting due diligence on the carrier.
When the broker noted the discrepancy in insurance coverage listed, Desiderato says, “the broker had the common sense to call the number associated with my DOT number.” The broker also gave her the name and number of the driver who’d been negotiating the load.
When Overdrive called that number, Four Hearts Transportation owner-operator Tomaz Sterczewski of Ocala, Fla., answered. It turned out if you remove the zero starting Sterczewski’s MC number, guess whose DOT number you get?
The fear of the broker and Desiderato – that a crook was attempting to exploit Desiderato’s stolen business identity – was a case of mistaken identity that caused no loss. But their alarm was fully merited, given the growth in business identity theft in the brokered-freight world.
