Double brokering red flags
The load looks normal, the rate is a little better than it should be, and the company that pays you is not the company that hired the truck. Here is what shows up in the FMCSA record before you accept, and what shows up in the paperwork after.
What the record shows before you book
Every one of these is a signal the lookup raises automatically, and each maps to something real about how these operations work.
| Signal | Why it appears |
|---|---|
| Authority under six months old | A fresh docket is cheap and disposable. When it burns, they open another. |
| Carrier authority, zero power units | They cannot haul it themselves, so they are placing it with someone else — without broker authority or a bond. |
| No broker bond on file | Nothing to claim against, which is the point. |
| Revocation pending | The insurance behind the operation has already gone. |
| Repeat revocations and reinstatements | A company that keeps losing and regaining authority is running thin. |
| Mail returned undeliverable | FMCSA cannot reach the registered address. Neither will you. |
For scale: 134,659 authorities were revoked in 2025 and 111 companies hold active broker authority with no bond on file at all. The pool of disposable authority is not small.
Look up an MC number
Live FMCSA licensing, insurance and census data. Switch to DOT if that's the number you were given.
What the paperwork shows
- The company name on the rate confirmation is not the name on the MC number they gave you.
- The pickup or delivery appointment is under a third company's name, and nobody explains why.
- They will only communicate by email or text, and the phone number in the signature is not the one on the FMCSA record.
- The rate is noticeably above market for the lane, with no reason — a hot lane, a short-notice reload — attached to it.
- The rate confirmation forbids you from contacting the shipper. Normal in places, but combined with anything above it is a pattern.
- Payment terms are unusually generous for a company with no payment history you can find.
The check that catches the expensive version
The sophisticated version of this fraud does not use a young docket. It uses a real brokerage's real MC number — old, clean, bonded — with the scammer's own phone and email pasted underneath. The FMCSA record will come back green, because the record is genuine. It just isn't theirs.
Which is why the final step is the same every time: call the number on the FMCSA record and ask whether they posted this load. It is the only check that distinguishes a company from someone wearing its identity, and it takes a minute.
If it has already happened
- Deliver the freight. Holding it turns your payment claim into a cargo claim against you, and your insurer will not thank you.
- Put your position in writing to the shipper and to the original broker: you hauled it, here is the proof of delivery, you have not been paid.
- File against the bond of whoever hired you, straight away — see the BMC-84 page.
- Report it. FMCSA's National Consumer Complaint Database takes reports against brokers and carriers, and the pattern is what eventually pulls authority.
- Keep the file. Rate confirmation, emails, phone records, the load board posting if you can screenshot it.
Questions
What is double brokering?
A broker or carrier takes a load, then re-brokers it to someone else without the shipper's or original broker's permission — usually hiding it. The carrier who actually hauls has a contract with a party who may never be paid, and often never intended to pay.
Is double brokering illegal?
Re-brokering with disclosure and authority is a normal part of the business. Doing it without broker authority, or by concealing it, is not: it breaches almost every rate confirmation in use and puts the freight outside the insurance everyone thinks is covering it.
How do I know if a load has been double brokered?
The name on the rate confirmation doesn't match the MC number, the pickup number is under a different company, the shipper has never heard of who you're hauling for, or the contact wants everything by email and won't take a call on the number FMCSA has on file.
What do I do if I've already hauled it?
Deliver and document — never hold freight hostage, which converts your payment claim into a cargo claim against you. Then notify the shipper and the original broker in writing that you were the carrier, and file against the bond of whoever hired you.
Does an MC number check prevent it?
It catches the cheap version. The lookup flags authority under six months old, carrier authority with zero trucks, missing bonds and pending revocations — the conditions most double-brokering operations run under. It cannot catch a stolen identity on a clean, old authority, which is why the last step is always to call the number on the record.