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Expertise Library Stories Combat Fraud at the Truck Scale

Combat Fraud at the Truck Scale

Uncover the Most Common Types of Fraud and Learn the Best Ways to Prevent Them

A search through local news will reveal a growing threat for industrial operations worldwide: fraud at the truck scale. Recently, a leading grain and oil seed facility discovered that it was losing profits equivalent to $165 per truckload. Management was not sure what was causing this loss - product shrink? Human error? Finally, after some investigation, they discovered the cause to be cheating at the scale. With 20 drivers involved in the scheme, this company was losing up to $10,000 a day.

Combat Fraud at the Truck Scale
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Top 5 Cheats at the Weighbridge

Top 5 Cheats at the Weighbridge

There are many ways criminals can cheat you at the scale. As thieves get smarter and more creative with their crimes, the need for your operation to keep up with smart fraud-prevention solutions is more critical than ever. The first step to protecting your operation, however, is to identify the most common types of fraud at the truck scale:

  1. Improper positioning - This cheat consists of a truck pulling onto a scale and positioning the truck either partially on or off the scale. This improper positioning affects the weight reading, resulting in a lower or higher weighment to the driver's benefit. This cheat results in your business either paying more than it needs to or missing out on lost profits.
  2. Load-cell tampering - Difficult to detect, this cheat involves tampering with one or more of the load cells on your truck scale. The cheater will visit your site and place a device on the load cell which will allow them to alter the weight reading in their favor.
  3. Lightening the load - This innovative cheat is common at sites with two-pass transactions. During this method, a driver will alter tare weights in his or her favor by expelling or adding additional weight through the use of a bladder of water or even an additional person.
  4. Disappearing goods - This method of fraud is common among fleets and consists of a driver stealing a small amount of goods over a large period. The longer the criminal gets away with this cheating, the more goods they can steal from your operation. 
  5. Altering data - A direct threat to your business, altering data involves a criminal either partnering with a scale house attendant or hacking into your data system to alter transaction data to the driver's benefit. 

Smart Digital Load Cells

One way to combat fraud is to equip your scale with smart digital technology. Some digital load cells are equipped with breach detection, alerting you at the first sign of tampering or damage. This can help you identify the exact point of your system that was compromised and help you stop theft before it even begins.

Additionally, smart algorithms in digital load cells can ensure that the weight being taken is accurate and reliable, giving you peace of mind that criminals cannot manipulate weight readings in their favor, cheating you out of hard-earned profits. Learn more about this technology and more to stop cheaters in their tracks.

Before we uncovered this scheme at our truck scale, we were losing money left and right. After discovering that there were ways to protect our operation from fraud, we were able to ensure the security of our profits and our operation. Since the addition of software and smart digital load cells to our setup, we have been able to make up for our loss in profits several times over.

Cody Martin, Facility Manager

Secure Data Management

Another tool your operation can use to combat fraud is transaction management software. Paper tickets are difficult to keep track of and easy to manipulate. Weak software platforms are susceptible to hacking and exploitation as well. The best way to make sure that your data - and business - are protected is to use secure, trusted data management software. 

The right software can enable inventory control, system-wide security monitoring and real-time alerts, weight-curve functionality, and timed transactions. All of these features can protect your operation from fraud, protecting your data and your pockets.

5 Tips for Preventing Fraud at the Truck Scale

5 Tips for Preventing Fraud at the Truck Scale

What if you were the victim of a crime that you didn't even know to look for? Many truck scale operations write off product shrink to scale inaccuracy, but the cause could be much more sinister. Discover the top 5 cheats at the weighbridge and how to prevent them with our free Fraud Prevention Guide.