Message Plane + Highway: Securing Auto Transport Dispatch With Verified Carrier Identity

How does Message Plane integrate with Highway? Message Plane integrates with Highway’s API and connects to your brokerage’s own Highway account. Highway is a carrier identity and fraud prevention platform. When a dispatcher clicks the Highway check on a carrier or offer, Message Plane pulls that carrier’s Highway data, including the rules assessment result, onboarding status, insurance, contacts, and alerts, and shows it on the carrier record. Your team can vet carriers in the same place it already posts loads, reviews offers, and dispatches, so nobody has to switch to another tool.

The rest of this page covers why carrier fraud has become a dispatch problem, what Highway checks, how the integration fits your workflow, and a checklist your team can use on every load.

Why carrier fraud is rising in auto transport

Fraud used to look like a fake company with a brand-new MC number. Now it more often looks like a real, established carrier whose identity has been stolen, bought, or taken over.

The numbers come from public sources:

  • Cargo theft losses jumped in 2025. In an April 2026 public service announcement, the FBI said estimated cargo theft losses in the U.S. and Canada reached nearly $725 million in 2025, a 60% increase over 2024. The average value per theft rose 36% to $273,990.
  • Attackers take over real carrier accounts. The same FBI alert says criminals get into broker and carrier systems through spoofed emails and fake links. They then change the legitimate carrier’s contact information with FMCSA and update its insurance information so they can book loads under that carrier’s authority.
  • Clean records are not proof. Highway’s Q1 2026 Freight Fraud Index found that carriers with legitimate MC numbers and clean operating histories were responsible for about 50% of theft incidents. Reported identity theft rose 89.6% year over year.
  • Communication is now the main way in. According to Highway’s Q2 2026 Freight Fraud Index, compromised inboxes, spoofed emails, account takeovers, and impersonation calls made up 50% of classified fraud vectors, up from 42.7% the quarter before. Highway blocked 784,201 fraudulent emails and intercepted 109,995 spoofed calls in the quarter. Ownership-change fraud accounted for 25.6% of reported thefts.

Auto transport is a direct target. MIT Technology Review described organized rings that use phishing, fake paperwork, and compromised FMCSA accounts to pose as legitimate transport companies. Once they win a car, they repost it on a load board with a new destination. Forbes reported in August 2026 that hijacked vehicles had a median value of about $80,000, citing one transport platform. Police in Greenwich, Connecticut, described a scheme that used accounts on auto transport load boards and an altered bill of lading to try to divert a $150,000 Audi.

Most incidents follow one of a few patterns:

  • Identity theft and spoofed MCs. A bad actor poses as a real carrier, using its DOT/MC number with a new phone number, email, or look-alike domain.
  • Account takeover. The real carrier’s FMCSA, email, or load board account is compromised, so the contact details look official.
  • Fake or altered COIs. Insurance certificates are forged, reused, or quietly changed to cover equipment or loads the carrier never insured.
  • Payment diversion. A “carrier” emails new remittance or ACH details from a compromised or look-alike inbox.
  • Double brokering. A fake carrier accepts the load and redispatches it to an unsuspecting hauler, sometimes with a changed delivery address. Central Dispatch’s fraud guidance lists reposted loads and conflicting bill-of-lading details as warning signs.

Liability is changing too. Highway’s Q2 report points to the Supreme Court’s May 2026 decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, which held that negligent-hiring claims against brokers are not preempted by federal law. That puts more weight on how brokers qualify carriers before tendering freight. (Have counsel review how this applies to your operation.)

A one-time check at onboarding can’t keep up with any of this. A carrier that passed last month can have a hijacked inbox today.

What Highway checks

Highway calls its category “Carrier Identity.” Its public product pages describe verification that continues before, during, and after each load, not just at onboarding. According to highway.com and its Connect product page, the platform covers:

  • Identity of the person, not just the company. Every user verifies with a government ID and a live photo match, plus proof that they are authorized to act for the carrier.
  • Authority, insurance, and operational legitimacy. Highway’s rules cover insurance, authority, lane history, and equipment, with classifications for base, high-value, and hazmat loads.
  • Your carrier standard, applied consistently. Brokers set rules once in Highway. Each carrier gets a clear result (Pass, Partial Pass, Incomplete, or Fail), and the same answer applies across the whole team.
  • Ongoing monitoring inside Highway. Highway says alerts fire when identity details change, insurance is about to expire, or a truck’s data conflicts with the profile.

Highway also sells its own load-level products, such as Load Lock and Know Your Driver. You can use them directly with Highway; they are not part of the Message Plane integration.

Highway says it works inside more than 30 TMS platforms. Published integration guides from other software vendors, such as Parade’s, describe those connections as using Highway’s API and the broker’s own Highway account. Message Plane’s integration works the same way.

How the Message Plane + Highway integration works in the dispatch workflow

Message Plane already brings leads, quotes, Central Dispatch and Super Dispatch posting, carrier offers, dispatch, and QuickBooks billing into one auto transport CRM. The Highway integration adds an identity check just before you hand a vehicle to a carrier.

Here’s how it works:

  1. Connect your own Highway account. The integration uses your brokerage’s own Highway subscription, which Highway bills separately. Message Plane connects to that account through Highway’s API.
  2. A carrier offer comes in. Offers from Central Dispatch or Super Dispatch land in Message Plane as they do today (Central Dispatch integration, Super Dispatch integration).
  3. Run the Highway check with one click. The check is manual: the dispatcher clicks the Highway button on the carrier or offer. It does not run automatically when an offer arrives.
  4. Review the Highway data on the carrier record. Message Plane shows the carrier’s Highway data next to your offer history and notes (see below).
  5. Make the call. If the carrier meets your standard, dispatch as usual. If not, decline the offer and move on. By default, the dispatcher decides. If you want Message Plane to warn or block dispatch when a carrier fails your Highway rules, ask us to turn that on.
  6. Check again before the next load. The record shows Highway’s data as of the last check, so run it again before each new dispatch.

The Highway data Message Plane surfaces

When the check runs, Message Plane displays the carrier data Highway provides to connected systems, as described on Highway’s public pages and in other software vendors’ published Highway integration guides:

  • Rules assessment. Whether the carrier meets the standard you set in Highway (Pass, Partial Pass, Incomplete, or Fail). That standard can include insurance, authority, lane history, and equipment.
  • Onboarding (connection) status. Whether the carrier has onboarded with your brokerage in Highway, still needs to onboard, or has been marked “do not use” by your team.
  • Carrier identifiers. Legal name, DBA name, DOT number, and MC number.
  • Insurance. Insurance policy and certificate details on file in Highway, including effective and expiration dates.
  • Contacts. Carrier contact names, roles, phone numbers, and email addresses as recorded in Highway.
  • Alerts. Highway carrier alerts, such as insurance policy changes, changes to the carrier’s rules result, and Identity Alerts posted on the carrier.

The integration builds on Message Plane’s carrier license check, which shows authority and insurance status alongside offers. FMCSA data tells you whether an authority is active. Highway adds whether the person you’re talking to is actually allowed to represent that authority.

Safe-dispatch checklist: what to do on every load

Use this checklist with or without the integration. The integration puts more of these steps on one screen.

  1. Verify identity, not just the MC. Click the Highway check and review the rules assessment before you assign. A valid DOT/MC number alone does not prove the person on the phone works for that carrier.
  2. Confirm authority and insurance are current today. Don’t rely on a COI from last quarter. Check the Highway insurance dates and make sure coverage fits the vehicle’s value and type.
  3. Match contact details to the source of record. Compare the person you’re dealing with against the Highway contacts. FMCSA’s fraud and identity theft guidance also recommends checking phone numbers against SAFER and calling the listed number if they don’t match.
  4. Read the alerts. Insurance changes, a changed rules result, or an Identity Alert right before a booking are red flags. Highway’s Q2 data shows ownership-change fraud rising.
  5. Send dispatch paperwork only to verified contacts. Don’t email a dispatch sheet or rate confirmation to an address you haven’t verified, and be wary of free email domains and look-alike domains.
  6. Lock down payment changes. Treat any request to change ACH or remittance details as suspect. Verify it by calling a number you already had on file and require a second approver.
  7. Confirm the driver and truck at pickup. Have the shipper or dealer check that the driver, truck, and plates match the carrier you dispatched. The FBI advises documenting driver photos, licenses, plates, and DOT/MC numbers.
  8. Treat reroutes as fraud until proven otherwise. Any mid-route change to the delivery address should be confirmed directly with the shipper.
  9. Keep everything on the order. Notes, calls, texts, and documents attached to the shipment record give you an audit trail if something goes wrong.

Carrier vetting before dispatch

Three trends are pushing secure dispatching forward.

Verification is becoming continuous. Regulators are tightening the front door. Highway’s Q2 report notes that FMCSA’s move to its Motus registration system strengthened identity checks at registration. But as Highway’s data shows, stronger controls at registration push fraud toward identities that already exist and have been compromised. The answer is to check at every load, not once a year.

The CRM is becoming the control point. Fraud succeeds in the gaps: between the load board and the inbox, or between the compliance spreadsheet and the dispatcher’s screen. When vetting, communication, dispatch, and billing all live in one system, there are fewer places for a spoofed email or a stale COI to slip through. This is why integrations matter more than standalone tools. (See all Message Plane integrations.)

Documentation is becoming a defense. With broker liability under more scrutiny, a clear record of what you checked, when, and what it showed is part of running a professional brokerage. It is no longer just nice to have.

Message Plane is trusted by more than 250 brokers and has handled over 2 million transports. Pricing is flat: $399–$499 per month base plus $59–$79 per user, with no usage fees. See pricing for details. Your Highway subscription is billed separately by Highway. If you’re on another platform, our team can help you migrate to Message Plane.

Want to see carrier vetting inside a live dispatch workflow? Book a demo.

Book a 30-minute demo

FAQ

How does Message Plane integrate with Highway?

Message Plane integrates with Highway’s API and connects to your own Highway account. When a dispatcher clicks the Highway check on a carrier or offer, Message Plane shows that carrier’s Highway rules assessment, onboarding status, insurance, contacts, and alerts on the carrier record.

Does the Highway check run automatically on every offer?

No. The check is manual. A dispatcher clicks the Highway button on the carrier or offer to run it.

What does Highway verify about a carrier?

Highway verifies the identity of the people acting for a carrier (government ID, live photo match, and proof of authorization) and applies the broker’s own rules, which can cover insurance, authority, lane history, and equipment. Each carrier gets a result of Pass, Partial Pass, Incomplete, or Fail.

Will Message Plane block dispatch to a carrier that fails Highway’s rules?

Not by default; the dispatcher decides. Warning or blocking on a failed carrier is optional, and we can turn it on for your account on request.

Isn’t an FMCSA authority check enough?

No. An FMCSA check confirms that an authority is active. It doesn’t confirm that the person contacting you is allowed to use it. The FBI has warned that criminals change legitimate carriers’ FMCSA contact and insurance details after taking over their accounts.

Does the integration help prevent double brokering?

It helps by confirming who you’re dispatching to before the load is assigned, which is when impersonation is easiest. Pair it with confirmation at pickup and a firm rule against unverified reroutes.

Do I need a separate Highway account?

Yes. You need your own Highway subscription and account. Message Plane connects to it, and Highway bills you separately.

Does the integration cost extra in Message Plane?

Message Plane pricing is a flat $399–$499 per month base plus $59–$79 per user, with no usage fees. Your Highway subscription is billed separately by Highway.

How do I get started?

Book a demo and our team will walk you through carrier vetting, dispatch, and setup.

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