Crooks are ripping off huge shipments of pricey AI equipment – $100M in heists since June: report
More than $100 million worth of equipment destined for data center construction sites has reportedly been stolen since June through fraudulent freight bookings, fake identities and spoofed GPS tracking. One stolen shipment of server equipment worth about $13 million was headed to Fayetteville, Georgia, while other thefts involved data center equipment in Illinois, California and Texas.
Criminal networks have stolen more than $100 million in data center and AI-related equipment since June, according to an NBC News report cited by the New York Post. The stolen goods include semiconductor chips, servers, fiber optic cables, copper wire, cooling systems and modular power equipment. Thieves reportedly compromise freight-broker accounts, recruit or impersonate drivers, use fake identification and manipulate GPS data to divert shipments.
One shipment carrying roughly $13 million in server equipment was being escorted to Fayetteville, Georgia, when a vehicle intentionally struck two off-duty police officers guarding the load. Other cases involved equipment shipments in Illinois and on routes between California and Texas. Law enforcement agencies, including the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, are investigating the thefts, while lawmakers and state task forces consider ways to disrupt organized cargo-theft networks and overseas resale operations.