From Spoofed Emails to Stolen Shipments: Tips for Protecting Your Business

The chemical distribution industry is facing a surge in sophisticated fraud schemes, with criminals increasingly targeting payments and chemical deliveries. Today’s schemes are increasingly sophisticated, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), and scams are harder to spot than ever.

CargoNet reports that theft incidents jumped 27% in 2024 over the previous year, with the biggest spikes in California and Texas. Criminals are spoofing email domains, signatures, and even phone numbers to impersonate legitimate customers or suppliers. Their goal is simple: divert your payments or your product.

A couple of years ago, you could catch most phishing attempts by spotting bad grammar or odd formatting. Now, AI writes emails that look like they came straight from your best customer. That means our “red flags” need to be sharper.

The companies I see staying ahead of these threats are doing a few things right:

• Go back to basics—pick up the phone and call a known contact if an order looks unusual.
• Train your people to spot changes in order patterns or delivery addresses.
• Lock down your systems so no one can change a shipping address without authorization.
• Report every attempt to the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security—they can’t help stop what they don’t know about.

Some members have even added in-person verification for high-value orders or built extra checks into their finance processes. These steps work—many have successfully foiled attacks in recent months.

Chemical distribution is part of our nation’s critical infrastructure. When bad actors get their hands on the wrong product, the consequences can be severe. With the loss of the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program, we’ve lost a critical layer of protection, so vigilance is more important than ever.

Fraud isn’t going away—but if we stay alert, share information, and make verification a habit, we can make it a lot harder for criminals to win.