As the holiday season kicks off, freight trucking experts say cargo theft will once again surge as more products hit the road.

The July Q2 report from CargoNet, a national information-sharing system that tracks cargo theft, shows a 13% increase in cargo theft compared to the same time in 2024.

Old-fashioned cargo theft is still happening, and one San Antonio-based freight business has some experience with it. 

"Before 2020 it was more just straight thefts," said Adam Blanchard, co-founder of Double Diamond Transport and Tanager Logistics. "They would come in, cut the seals and take cargo out of it."

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Online cargo theft has skyrocketed since the pandemic, rising 1,500% over the past four years, according to Trucking.org.

Keith Lewis, CargoNet's Vice President of Operations, said he noticed the jump in online theft just after 2020, "and the bad guys realized they could work from anywhere in the world and control freight."

These fraudsters are now digging deep into all facets of the trucking industry.

"They stole my identity as a freight broker in order to get cargo from other companies and tender it to legitimate motor carriers and I started having legitimate trucking companies reaching out to me asking for payment for freight that wasn’t mine," Blanchard said.

Blanchard traced the fraudsters back to Eastern Europe and found they stole a load of energy drinks. His business partner got the fake logistics company on the phone, but they were never hit with legal action. 

The heist by the fraudsters hurt Blanchard's reputation, and due to the rise in theft claims, his business insurance rates doubled this year.

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American Trucking Associations (ATA) CEO Chris Spear told FOX, "This is much more tech-driven by transnational organizations operating out of Eastern Europe, Russia. They’re actually going into the bill of laden, they’re looking for the expensive type of freight."

But what happens once a truckload of product is stolen by a fraudster across the world?

"They’ll steal that freight, put it in containers as best we can tell, a lot of it is going to the LA area, and transport it to other countries," Blanchard said.

CargoNet's Lewis said sometimes freight companies do not know a load of goods is stolen until weeks, months or even a year later. 

"The problem is, is we don’t have mandatory reporting, so a lot of these go unreported," he said. 

So far this year, California, Texas, and Illinois rank in the top three for cargo theft, representing 53% of all cargo theft nationwide. The top items targeted are food and beverages, and household goods.

The ATA says cargo theft is a $19 million-a-day hit to the trucking industry.

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The freight trucking industry is urging lawmakers to pass the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA). The ATA said the bill "would provide law enforcement and industry with a unified framework to fight back. Not only would it create a long-overdue task force to pursue these criminal rings, but it would also establish a badly needed national cargo theft database."

Blanchard testified to Congress in February, along with other industry leaders. 

"Here is the crux of the issue. There is no law enforcement agency that is focused on this," Blanchard said. "Until we get legislation passed on the federal level that establishes a federal law enforcement coalition that begins to investigate these crimes, and begins to actually conduct arrests and prosecutions, this [is] only going to continue to get worse." 

Blanchard said theft will affect every part of the business, which means he may have to increase prices – ultimately leading to higher prices for shoppers.

"When they’re seeing products not arriving on the shelves, there’s a shortage of that," Spear said. "The cost goes up. There’s a reflection in what you, I and what everyone pays for the things we want and need." 

Multiple students told Fox News Digital on Thursday that the latest Turning Point USA gathering was their first conservative event, another sign of the growing fervor on the right in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination last month.

The University of North Dakota was the latest stop on the conservative group's "This Is The Turning Point" campus tour. Fox News Digital spoke to attendees of the event about whether they had prior involvement in the conservative movement, and if conversations and debate needed to be prioritized over "owning" liberals.

During the TPUSA event that took place this week at Montana State University, Vivek Ramaswamy made comments regarding conversations that conservatives ought to aim for, and students were asked to respond. 

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"Own the libs" has been a popular slogan in conservative circles over the last decade, but Ramaswamy believes that mindset is a thing of the past. 

"We don't care about owning the libs. Not anymore," Ramaswamy said.

Students were asked whether they believe the most effective way to win over Americans is through debate and conversation rather than confrontation.

"I don't think that the conversation should really be about owning anyone, or it shouldn't be like attacking, either side attacking each other. I think we should… try to have productive conversations to get towards our end goal," said Brandon. 

Easton said, "I'd say each group has felt like they've owned the other one during times, but I wouldn't ever say that the conservatives have owned the liberals."

Abbie pointed to Kirk, who founded TPUSA in 2012, as an example of how conversations ought to be done. "I think that's what Charlie was the best at, that he wouldn't kind of try and one-up them. He would try to respect them and just say the facts on why their opinions were wrong, I guess."

Andrew said, "It's obvious after the death of Charlie Kirk that… there's factions in this country that don't want to solve issues with debates and constructive arguments."

Zach said, "They're [liberals] honestly kind of so crazy at this point, they're owning themselves."

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"When you choose violence, you're already losing regardless… the best thing we can do is kind of honestly follow like Charlie Kirk's model. You know, just talk to them, no matter what they spit or shout at you," he added.

Easton didn't hold back.

"Obviously, they don't want gun violence, but that's kind of what they turn to when they feel like they've been wronged in a way. So I'd almost agree with that statement to an extent," he told Fox News Digital.

Several students discussed attending the event as a first for their involvement in the conservative movement.

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"This is my first conservative event. I really just, I'm just going to check it out though," Brett said.  

"I didn't know much about Turning Point before the passing of Charlie Kirk," Jace said. "And so I kind of wanted to just see what it was about."

Andrew said, "I'm really just curious to see what their stance on Israel is."

Zach, Cooper, and Devin, almost in unison, shared that the event was their first official conservative gathering.