Crooks are ripping off huge shipments of pricey AI equipment $100M in heists since June: report
Thieves are pulling off massive heists of pricey AI equipment – using sophisticated digital tactics and cinematic exploits to abscond with millions of dollars worth of freight headed to data center construction sites.Crooks have made off with more than $100 million in data center gear since June – using hacked accounts, phony driver’s licenses and spoofed GPS coordinates to pull off the heists, according to an NBC News report.The loot includes expensive semiconductor chips, fiber optic cables, servers, copper wire and even bitcoin mining machines.The burgeoning illicit activity comes as companies pour billions of dollars into efforts to quickly erect data centers that can power AI.Since 2025, nearly two dozen cargo thefts have been reported in states including California, Texas and Utah. “It’s like stealing pure gold bars,” Keith Lewis, head of operations at cargo theft risk-assessment firm Verisk CargoNet, told NBC News.
“It’s so much easier to steal this than to rob a bank.”Crooks are hacking into freight brokers’ accounts on shipment-listing websites, using their access to post fake loads to attract legitimate trucking companies, according to the report.Once shippers respond, the thieves send malicious links that install software that allows them to control companies’ accounts and bid on actual shipments.The criminals then either recruit unsuspecting truckers or use fake driver’s licenses to get accomplices that are in on the sham hired to transport the goods.
The cargo is eventually handed off to a driver working with the thieves, who can resell the equipment, according to the report.In some cases, the thieves have manipulated tracking coordinates to throw monitoring systems off their trail.Two shipments stolen in Illinois, for instance, contained an estimated $300,000 in copper wire spools and roughly $1 million in custom-made modular power equipment for data centers, according to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.Some of the bigges...