Highway thieves are spoofing GPS to steal millions in data center-bound cargo

Thieves have stolen more than $100 million in data centre-bound freight since June, using hacked accounts, fake shipment listings and other digital tricks to hijack deliveries. Investigators say the shift towards targeted, planned thefts matters because it puts high-value equipment and a wider range of goods in supply chains at risk.

The stolen cargo has included servers, fibre-optic cables, memory chips, copper wire and data centre power equipment. Two shipments valued at about $13 million and $10 million disappeared after escort vehicles were struck; in the latter case, GPS coordinates were reportedly spoofed despite location monitoring. Some goods have been recovered, but equipment from two of the largest thefts remains missing.