White paper · Part 3 of 4
What to check to lower the risk
A practical checklist, in two levels. The first is what every charter should clear before loading. The second is where verification stops being visual and becomes technical.
First level of verification
A. Company verification
Company verification establishes whether the legal entity behind a carrier actually exists, is in good standing, and is who it claims to be.
- Official company register. Every EU member state maintains one — Handelsregister in Germany, Infogreffe in France, Companies House in the UK, Registro Imprese in Italy, and so on. Confirm the company exists under the exact name and registration number claimed.
- Status. Confirm the entity is active — not dissolved, not in liquidation.
- Company age. A transport company incorporated recently warrants close scrutiny.
- Directors and beneficial owners. Cross-check named directors against the register. Watch for very recent director appointments or beneficial ownership changes — a company “taken over” shortly before a fraud attempt is a known typology.
- Registered office address. Compare it against the address used on the licence, the insurance certificate and elsewhere. A registered office that resolves to a residential apartment, a virtual office provider or a mail-forwarding address, for a company claiming a 40-truck fleet, should raise concern. That said, many legitimate small carriers use their accountant’s address as registered office — the signal should raise scrutiny, not trigger automatic rejection.
- Cross-verify with the carrier itself, using an independently sourced email address or phone number.
B. Transport licence verification
Under Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009, road haulage operators carrying goods for hire or reward within the EU must hold a Community Licence issued by their national competent authority. Cross-checking against the official register is possible in many countries.
- Coherence check. Verify the carrier name, the licence number and the expiry date by comparing the submitted licence against the information held in the official register.
- Certified copies vs. the original. Every truck must carry a certified copy of the licence; the original is retained by the operator. The absence of an issued certified copy is a red flag.
- Validity window. Licences are typically issued with an expiry date of up to ten years, but can be revoked before it. Confirm the carrier still holds a valid licence today.
C. Insurance verification
Cargo and liability insurance certificates are a weak spot in carrier onboarding, because they are treated as a formality rather than a control point.
- Named policy holder. Confirm the certificate names the exact legal entity being onboarded — not a parent company, not a “trading as” name, not a similarly named entity in another country.
- Coverage type and limits.
- Validity dates. Confirm the policy is currently active.
- Direct confirmation with the insurer or broker. The single most reliable check, and the one most often skipped under time pressure: a call or written confirmation request to the insurer or broker named on the certificate, using contact details sourced independently — never the phone number or email address printed on the certificate itself, which in a forged document could have been changed on purpose.
D. VAT verification
VAT numbers can be checked against a real-time, authoritative EU database: VIES, the VAT Information Exchange System operated by the European Commission.
Second level of verification
Additional technical verifications can significantly enhance carrier due diligence and reduce exposure to freight diversion. By analysing digital signals — domain history, email and phone intelligence, document forensics — it is possible to detect indicators that traditional processes overlook. These checks typically require access to specialised, subscription-based intelligence tools and technical expertise.
A. Document forensics
Document forensics enables a deeper level of verification through intra-document analysis, moving beyond visual inspection to assess the underlying digital characteristics of a document.
This is where verification becomes technical rather than purely visual. Sophisticated fraudulent documents are designed to appear identical to legitimate originals, which makes human review increasingly unreliable. A modern approach must assume that visual similarity alone is not sufficient evidence of authenticity, and should rely on structural analysis, digital fingerprinting, metadata examination, document composition analysis, and detection of inconsistencies in creation or modification patterns.
These techniques reveal indicators invisible to the naked eye. By analysing the digital DNA of a document rather than only its appearance, forensics provides a more robust method to identify counterfeit, manipulated or artificially generated documents.
B. Email intelligence
Email intelligence analyses the digital identity behind a communication channel, rather than simply confirming that an address exists.
Typosquatting deserves particular attention, as it is a common pattern in carrier impersonation and business email compromise. Criminals create look-alike domains using subtle modifications — transposed letters, added characters, hyphens, or alternative top-level domains such as .co instead of .com.
A robust process should also analyse domain age and registration data (WHOIS), email infrastructure (MX records), authentication controls (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), and the use of disposable or non-corporate email providers. Combined, these indicators give a stronger assessment of digital identity legitimacy and help detect fraudulent carrier profiles before operational exposure occurs.
C. Phone intelligence
Phone numbers provide valuable intelligence when assessing the legitimacy of a carrier identity. Beyond basic contact validation, analysing the characteristics and risk profile of a number can reveal inconsistencies that indicate fraudulent activity.
A robust process should assess line type (VoIP, mobile, landline), geographic consistency, number ownership indicators, and potential SIM swap or number manipulation risks — signals that surface disposable VoIP numbers or contact details inconsistent with the carrier’s claimed identity or operating location.
D. AML screening and sanctions intelligence
Anti-money-laundering screening provides an additional compliance layer by assessing whether a carrier, its legal representatives or associated entities present financial crime or regulatory risks. Beyond verifying that a company legally exists, AML checks help identify potential links to sanctioned entities, restricted parties, fraudulent organisations or high-risk individuals.
Adapted from the Vectys white paper “Preventing freight diversion”, August 2026.
Provided for informational and guidance purposes only. It outlines general principles, best practices and potential risk mitigation approaches, and does not constitute legal advice, compliance advice, or a guarantee of fraud prevention, regulatory compliance or operational risk elimination.