How Cargado keeps the marketplace safe: who gets in, how the platform behaves, and how we handle what you share with us.
A cross-border freight marketplace only works if both sides can trust who is on the other end of the transaction. Brokers are tendering freight in a market with no central safety registry; carriers are hauling for companies they have never met. Cargado answers that with three layers: who gets in, how the platform behaves, and how we handle what you share with us.
The network is invite-only, and every carrier is verified before it can see or bid on a single load. For Mexican carriers, that means the credential stack that actually exists in Mexico: the RFC and tax-status certificate validated against the tax authority, the SICT federal operating permit cross-checked to the tax ID, the CAAT for international operations, insurance posture, the legal representative verified against the corporate charter or a notarized power of attorney, proof of address, commercial references, video identity checks, and a minimum age of operating authority.
For carriers operating under U.S. authority, verification runs on FMCSA data, with continuous monitoring of authority and safety records afterward. Where carriers hold CTPAT or OEA certification, we verify the documentation rather than accepting a verbal claim, so compliance teams get an auditable answer.
A carrier vetted once two years ago has not been vetted. Credentials expire, the CAAT renews annually, tax certificates go stale, and fleets change hands, so monitoring is continuous after onboarding. Enforcement is one strike: a carrier that goes bad is removed. The economics keep that promise honest, because carriers join at no cost and brokers fund the platform, so removing a bad actor never costs Cargado revenue. Nothing pulls against enforcement.
Carriers deserve to know who pays, so access on the broker side is reference-based: brokers are verified at invite before they can post freight to the network. Payment remains a direct obligation between broker and carrier, and Cargado is never in the money flow, but bad actors on either side of the marketplace get the same treatment: they are removed.
Most cross-border freight fraud starts with a stranger and an unverifiable identity. The platform is built so that neither exists here.
Your freight data, your rates, and your carrier lists are yours, and the platform is structured so brokers never see each other's freight. Beyond the structural protections, we would rather answer your security questions specifically than generically: enterprise teams running a formal review can ask us about our security practices, documentation, and data handling at legal@cargado.com, and we will work with your procurement process.
We verify the Mexican credential stack instead: the RFC and tax-status certificate validated against the tax authority, the SICT federal operating permit cross-checked to the tax ID, the CAAT for international freight, legal-representative identity, proof of address, insurance posture, commercial references, and video identity checks. Every item is verified before a carrier can see or bid on freight.
Ongoing. Credentials expire and fleets change hands, so carriers are monitored continuously after onboarding, including FMCSA monitoring for carriers under U.S. authority. Removal is one strike, and because carriers join at no cost, removing a bad actor never costs the platform revenue.
That restriction is the anti-fraud layer. Keeping first contact in-platform means introductions happen between identity-verified companies and leave an auditable record, which is exactly what open boards lack. After a genuine connection is established, you work together through whatever channels you prefer.
No. There are no shippers on the platform, and brokers cannot see each other's freight. Combined with subscription economics that take no percentage of any load, there is no mechanism for your rates to leak upstream or sideways.
Brokers are verified at invite, with reference-based access before they can post freight. Payment stays a direct obligation between broker and carrier, and Cargado does not guarantee payment, but brokers who fail their carriers are removed from the network the same way bad carriers are.
We would rather answer that specifically than vaguely: ask us about our security practices and current documentation at legal@cargado.com. We support enterprise security reviews and procurement processes, and we will walk your team through how the platform handles data.