Criminal networks steal $23 million in data-centre shipments

Organized criminal networks have stolen more than $100 million in data-centre equipment since June 2026, with two major shipments alone valued at a combined $23 million. The shipments carried hardware for data-centre construction, and the reported thefts involved both digital deception and physical interception on highways.

One shipment, a trailer carrying computer server equipment valued at about $13 million, was headed toward Fayetteville, Georgia. NBC News places the journey in early June; IBTimes UK says the trailer disappeared after a car struck its escort vehicle. The reporting describes the trailer as carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment.

Fayetteville is identified in the NBC News account as the site of one of the country’s largest data-centre developments. A separate California shipment of server-rack components, valued at around $10 million and bound for Texas, was also intercepted after a car struck its escort vehicle, according to IBTimes UK.

Investigators said the shipment’s tracking coordinates appeared to have been spoofed. The account does not identify who arranged either collision or establish whether the same people carried out both thefts. The reported methods include compromised freight accounts, false driver identities and altered GPS coordinates.

IBTimes UK says investigators described phishing as a possible way to gain access to freight brokers’ accounts. The New York Post, summarizing NBC News, also reports the use of hacked accounts, false driver documents and spoofed GPS data. These methods could allow thieves to redirect or take control of valuable loads while disrupting the information used to track them.

The coverage emphasizes different parts of the reported activity. IBTimes UK details the two high-value shipments and the investigators’ account of possible phishing; the New York Post relays NBC News’ broader estimate and reports nearly two dozen cargo thefts since 2025 across states including California, Texas and Utah.

NBC News describes trucking, supply-chain and security industry veterans’ accounts of staged robberies, while its excerpt focuses on the $13 million Georgia-bound trailer. The reporting also describes stolen freight beyond the two major shipments.

In Illinois, two loads contained an estimated $300,000 in copper wire and roughly $1 million in custom-made modular power equipment for data centres, according to the New York Post’s account of the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. IBTimes UK gives similar values for those materials.

The reports connect the thefts to rising demand for servers, computer chips and other infrastructure as artificial intelligence expands. The incidents leave data-centre equipment moving through freight networks exposed to a combination of account compromise, identity deception and physical interception.

The available accounts do not name suspects or report arrests, charges or recoveries, so they do not establish who carried out the thefts or whether the reported incidents share a single network.