HaulProof Fraud Desk · 2026-11-09
Freight fraud statistics for Canada: what the public records showed in October 2026
Most freight fraud numbers you read are survey results or insurance estimates. These are not. They are counts from the public carrier records on both sides of the border (the FMCSA file in the US, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation's CVOR lists, and Quebec's transport commission, the CTQ), which HaulProof copies and reads every day. Here is what October 2026 looked like, in plain words, and what it means for a broker booking loads in Canada.
October in five numbers
- 6,230 US-registered carriers had their operating authority involuntarily suspended. For 3,297 of them, the reason was a cancelled insurance filing.
- 2,647 out-of-service orders were issued against 2,646 carriers.
- 2,936 active carriers match a carrier in bad standing on two or more kinds of contact or ownership detail. That is the chameleon pattern.
- 1,199 carriers changed the phone or email on their FMCSA record in just six days, October 26 to 31.
- In Quebec, 1,666 carriers are listed by the CTQ without the right to operate. In Ontario, 203 carriers are rated Unsatisfactory and 639 are Cancelled.
1. Insurance lapses drove most suspensions
In October the FMCSA took 6,280 involuntary suspension actions against 6,230 carriers. That is about 200 carriers a day losing the right to haul freight under their authority. Just over half of them (3,297, or 53%) were suspended because the insurance filing behind their authority was cancelled.
This matters to Canadian brokers because many carriers that haul for you also hold US authority, and cross-border freight lives or dies on that file. A carrier you onboarded in September with a clean certificate of insurance can be uninsured in October. The certificate in your onboarding folder does not change when the policy does. Only a check on the day of the load shows it. Our carrier insurance certificate checklist covers what a certificate can and cannot prove, and the free cargo coverage checker shows what is on file today.
2. Out-of-service orders: about 85 a day
The FMCSA also issued 2,647 out-of-service orders in October, against 2,646 carriers. An out-of-service order means the carrier must stop operating until the problem is fixed. Spread across the month, that is roughly 85 orders a day. A carrier under one can still answer the phone and quote a rate, so the order only protects you if your check reads it before dispatch.
3. Chameleons: 2,936 active carriers tied to one in bad standing
A chameleon carrier is a company that shuts down after a revocation, a bad safety rating or a pile of claims, then comes back under a new name and a new number. The people, phones and addresses stay the same; only the paperwork changes.
HaulProof links every carrier to every other carrier through the phone, email, address and officers on record. In October, 3,555 carriers matched a carrier in bad standing on two or more of those kinds of detail, and 2,936 of them were still active. We count only two or more kinds of match, because one shared detail alone (a busy office building, a common family name) is not proof of anything. Two or more is a pattern, and in HaulProof it forces a High risk tier. Our guide to chameleon carriers shows what the pattern looks like on a real record.
4. Contact details that change hands
HaulProof began tracking daily changes to the phone and email on FMCSA records on October 26. In the six days to October 31, 1,199 carriers changed one or the other, about 200 a day. Of those, 539 were email changes, and 286 of the emails moved to a different domain.
Most of those changes are honest: a new office manager, a new phone plan. But a changed email is also the exact moment an impersonator takes over a real carrier's identity. The fraud does not show up as a bad rating. It shows up as a good carrier with someone else's inbox. The free carrier contact check tells you whether an email or phone belongs to the carrier on record, or to another carrier, or to a brand-new look-alike domain.
5. The provincial records a US check does not show
On November 6, Quebec's CTQ listed 1,982 carriers rated Unsatisfactory or Conditional, and 1,666 of them (84%) had no right to operate. On November 4, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation's public list named 203 carriers rated Unsatisfactory and 639 Cancelled.
None of these ratings appear in the FMCSA file. A carrier can look clean in a US-only check while its home province has pulled its right to operate, and the reverse is also true. We explain why in the cross-border blind spot. You can browse the current Ontario CVOR Unsatisfactory list and the CTQ lists for free.
What the numbers mean for a broker's day
Put the month together and one lesson stands out: a carrier check is a snapshot, and the picture moves every day. Roughly 200 suspensions, 85 out-of-service orders and 200 contact changes a day means a carrier that passed onboarding last month may not pass today. Three habits close most of the gap:
- Check on the day of the load, not only at onboarding: authority, insurance and out-of-service status.
- Read both sides of the border: the FMCSA file plus the provincial record (Ontario CVOR, Quebec CTQ, the NSC certificate in other provinces).
- Confirm that the email and phone you are talking to belong to the carrier on record before you send a rate confirmation.
How HaulProof does this for you
HaulProof already does all three, every day, for every active carrier. Each carrier gets one risk tier with the reasons in plain words, in English and French, built from the FMCSA file and the provincial records together. The Chrome extension shows that tier right on your load board, so the check happens while you book, not after. Carriers you watch send you an alert the day anything changes.
If you want to see what this looks like on your own carriers, the free carrier check rates your whole list and sends you the risky ones. You can also add the Chrome extension, or start a 14-day team trial so everyone on your desk sees the same tiers.
Check my carrier list free Try the extension 14-day team trial
Questions
How many carriers were suspended in October 2026?
The FMCSA involuntarily suspended the operating authority of 6,230 US-registered carriers in October 2026 (6,280 actions). For 3,297 of them, the cause was a cancelled insurance filing.
What is a chameleon carrier?
A carrier that closes after a revocation, a poor safety rating or unpaid claims and comes back under a new name and number with the same people, phones or addresses. In October 2026, 2,936 active carriers matched a carrier in bad standing on two or more kinds of contact or ownership detail.
Does an FMCSA check show a carrier's Ontario or Quebec rating?
No. Ontario CVOR ratings and Quebec CTQ ratings are kept by the provinces and do not appear in the FMCSA file. A full check reads both. On November 6, 2026 the CTQ listed 1,666 carriers without the right to operate.
Where do these numbers come from?
From HaulProof's daily copies of the public records: the FMCSA authority, out-of-service and contact data, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation's CVOR lists and the Quebec CTQ lists. Figures are aggregate and no carrier is named. The full monthly report is free to quote with a link.
Aggregate figures from HaulProof's daily copies of the public records. No carrier is named. Free to quote with a link. Media questions: sales@haulproof.ca.