--- title: "Change-of-ownership and bought-MC fraud: what factors should check" url: https://carrierkyc.com/guides/change-of-ownership-fraud description: "Can you buy an MC number? What FMCSA's 2026 bulletin says, how bought authority and fake ownership changes hit factors, and how to verify a new owner." updated: 2026-10-19 author: "Isaac Welch" --- # Change-of-ownership and bought-MC fraud: what factors should check *Aged authority is valuable, so it gets sold, hijacked and claimed by fake new owners. Here is what a legitimate ownership change looks like on paper, and how to verify one before you fund.* Category: Fraud & verification. Published 2026-10-19, updated 2026-10-19. By Isaac Welch. ## Key takeaways - FMCSA treats a USDOT number as belonging to the legal person it was assigned to, and its March 13, 2026 bulletin warns against selling, buying or leasing USDOT or MC numbers outside a legitimate corporate transaction. - A legitimate change of ownership leaves a paper trail: Secretary of State filings, purchase documents, updated FMCSA records and, when authority moves to a new entity, a filing with FMCSA before closing. - Treat a claimed new owner of an established carrier as a new client, and verify the person, the entity, the bank account and the liens from scratch. - Highway, a carrier-vetting vendor, says ownership change fraud accounted for 25.6% of the thefts reported to it in Q2 2026. - The SAFER Transport Act (H.R. 8267) would require new owners to notify FMCSA within 30 days of an ownership change, but it is a bill in committee, not law. ## Can you buy an MC number? No, not as a standalone item. FMCSA treats a USDOT number as belonging to the legal person it was issued to, and on March 13, 2026 it issued a bulletin headed "DO NOT Sell, Purchase, or Lease a USDOT Number or Operating Authority (MC Number)." Authority changes hands only as part of a legitimate corporate transaction, and FMCSA says it will inactivate a USDOT number it finds being used by anyone other than the assigned legal person. The bulletin exists because the market exists. FreightWaves reported in March 2026 that authorities are advertised online and moved through informal intermediaries, sometimes as "carrier packages" bundled with the company's email accounts and dispatch contacts. Buyers want what aged authority signals: history, which brokers and factors read as trust. Change-of-ownership fraud is the broader pattern. Someone takes control of an established carrier's identity, by buying it informally, buying the shell company, or simply claiming to be its new owner, and uses its age and clean record to get loads, credit and factoring. For a factor, the risk is funding a stranger who looks like a carrier with 9 years of history. ## How common is change-of-ownership fraud? We know of no public count specific to factors. The most detailed numbers we have found come from Highway, which sells carrier-identity software to brokers. Highway says ownership change fraud accounted for 25.6% of reported thefts in its Q2 2026 index, up from 23.0% in Q1. Treat that as vendor data from the broker side. FMCSA describes the same trend in its own words. Its April 2026 Federal Register notice on Motus listed identity theft, hijacking FMCSA motor carrier accounts, selling motor carrier numbers and PINs, and fake initial registrations among the presumed fraud it has seen increase. As Motus makes fake new registrations harder, an existing carrier's identity becomes relatively more valuable to a fraudster. ## What does a legitimate change of ownership look like? It depends on what changes hands. The first question is whether the legal entity that holds the USDOT number and authority stays the same. *Ownership changes and what FMCSA expects* | What happened | What happens to the USDOT and authority | Paper you should see | | --- | --- | --- | | The owners sold the shares or membership interests, and the same corporation or LLC keeps operating | The USDOT stays with the entity, and the new owners must promptly update FMCSA records | Purchase agreement, updated Secretary of State filings, updated officers on the MCS-150 | | A sole proprietor sold the business | The buyer must obtain a new USDOT number, and may need new authority or a recorded transfer | Asset purchase agreement and a USDOT number in the buyer's name | | Operating authority moved to a different entity through an asset purchase or merger | A transfer filed with FMCSA on Form OP-FC-1 before closing, with the buyer meeting insurance and process-agent rules before it operates | The OP-FC-1, the closing documents, and the buyer's own insurance and BOC-3 | | A name change or change of business form, with no change in ownership, management or control | A records-change filing (Form MCSA-5889) that must state there is no change in ownership, management or control | The filing and the matching Secretary of State amendment | | The number was sold, rented or leased to an unrelated party | Not permitted; FMCSA may inactivate the USDOT number and revoke registrations | Nothing that will hold up | The transfer and name-change procedures sit in 49 CFR part 365, subpart D. They are summarized here for underwriting, not as legal advice; ask counsel to review a specific transaction. ## What does bought-MC fraud look like to a factor? The application looks like a good client: years of authority, a clean safety record, maybe a long list of brokers. The tells are in what changed, and when. > **Red flag: Red flags of a fake or undisclosed ownership change** Officer names in the FMCSA census that don't match the applicant; a phone, email or address change in the last 90 days; an `mcs150_date` days before the application; a move to a new state; a new insurance agent or policy; a recently opened bank account; equipment and drivers that don't match the inspection history; a carrier that never factored suddenly needing to; and an applicant who can't produce purchase documents or explain the previous owner. Watch for a prior factor's UCC-1 still on file, too. If the old owner factored and the new owner says nothing about it, either the lien was never released or the sale never happened. Run a [UCC search](https://carrierkyc.com/guides/ucc-search-before-funding) and get the release letter before funding. This is the mirror image of a [chameleon carrier](https://carrierkyc.com/guides/chameleon-carriers). A chameleon is the same people with a new identity; bought-MC fraud is new people with an old identity. So for a chameleon you look for links to old entities, and for a bought MC you look for breaks in continuity. ## How do you verify a claimed change of ownership? 1. **Ask what kind of change it was** A share sale, asset sale, merger or name change. Each leaves different documents, and a vague answer is itself a signal. 2. **Get the documents** The purchase agreement, the amended operating agreement or stock ledger, and the Secretary of State filings that show the new members or officers and when they were added. 3. **Match FMCSA to the story** Compare `company_officer_1`, `company_officer_2` and `mcs150_date` in the census with the documents. If authority moved to a new entity, look for it in the authority history, and confirm the new entity's own insurance and BOC-3. 4. **Verify the new owner as a person** A government ID and selfie match, tied to the officer or member named in the Secretary of State record. 5. **Contact the previous owner independently** Use contact details from before the change: an older FMCSA snapshot, the prior factor, or the insurance agent. A real seller confirms a real sale. 6. **Clear the liens** Run a UCC search on the entity and get a release from any prior factor before you send a notice of assignment. 7. **Verify the bank account** Confirm the account belongs to the carrier's legal entity, not to the new owner personally or to a different LLC. 8. **Confirm insurance with the agent** Confirm the named insured, the scheduled vehicles and the effective dates directly with the agent, not from a certificate the applicant sends you. The free [carrier check](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/carrier-check) shows the public half of step 3: authority history, the census record and recent changes, each with its source and as-of date. ## What should you do when an existing client says it has a new owner? Treat it as a new onboarding of the same carrier. Ownership changes are a common setup for payment redirection: the "new owner" sends a new bank account, a new email and new contacts, and asks you to update the remit-to before the next schedule. Hold any bank or remit-to change until the new owner, the entity and the account are verified, and confirm the sale with the previous owner through contact details you already had on file. The free [bank-change verification checklist](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/remit-change-checklist) lays out the steps. Re-verifying every ownership and bank change before the next ACH is the core of Verified Payee. If you want to try it on your own carrier files, [pilots are open](https://carrierkyc.com/pilot) to small factors. ## Is anything changing in the law? Motus already raises the bar for new registrations. FMCSA's notice says Motus will verify the identity of all new applicants, and of existing registrants when they first access the system, and will validate business details including ownership structure and company officials. That helps FMCSA know who controls a record, but it is not a feed you can watch, and it doesn't tell you whether the person on your application is that official. In Congress, the SAFER Transport Act (H.R. 8267) was introduced on 2026-04-14 and referred to committee. As introduced, it would require the new owner to notify FMCSA within 30 days of a change in ownership of a carrier, broker or freight forwarder, stop issuing or renewing MC numbers after enactment, and retire them within 5 years in favor of USDOT numbers. It is a bill in committee, not law, and MC numbers remain in use today. Neither change removes the factor's job. A notice requirement helps only if someone checks the notice against the person asking to be paid. ## What happens to people who sell their MC number? The seller may not escape the consequences. Land Line reported an example raised by OOIDA: a member sold his operating authority, the transfer wasn't done properly, and years later he was held responsible after the carrier operating under it had a crash. FMCSA's bulletin also says it will start proceedings to inactivate numbers and revoke registrations when it finds attempts to sell, buy or lease them outside a legitimate transaction. For a factor, the practical question is simpler. If you funded a stranger using someone else's authority, you are usually chasing the stranger, so the checks above are worth far more than any recovery. Ask counsel about recovery options for a specific loss. ## Frequently asked questions ### Can I lease my MC number to another driver? No. FMCSA's March 13, 2026 bulletin covers leasing a USDOT number or operating authority as well as selling or buying one, and FMCSA says it will inactivate a number used by anyone other than the legal person it was assigned to. ### How long does a legitimate authority transfer take? Under 49 CFR 365.405T, the parties file Form OP-FC-1 at least 10 days before the transaction closes. After that, the buyer may operate once it meets FMCSA's insurance and process-agent requirements, and the authority is reissued in the buyer's name only after FMCSA approves the transfer. ### Should I fund an established carrier that recently changed hands? You can, once the change is verified. A documented sale, a reachable former owner, matching Secretary of State and FMCSA records, a verified new owner and a verified bank account describe a normal business event. The risk sits in changes you can't trace. ### What's the difference between an MC takeover and change-of-ownership fraud? An [MC takeover](https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/mc-takeover) usually means seizing control of an existing carrier's FMCSA account or identity with no transaction at all, often through phishing. Change-of-ownership fraud wraps the takeover in a story about a sale. The defenses overlap: verify the person, the paper and the bank account. ## Sources - [FMCSA toughens enforcement of carrier number transfers](https://www.ttnews.com/articles/fmcsa-dot-number-enforcement) (Transport Topics, 2026-03-20, on FMCSA's 2026-03-13 bulletin) - [FMCSA warns against selling USDOT/MC numbers](https://landline.media/fmcsa-warns-against-selling-usdot-mc-numbers/) (Land Line, 2026-03-16) - [Catch Me If You Can: the underground market for MC numbers regulators are trying to stop](https://www.freightwaves.com/news/catch-me-if-you-can-the-underground-market-for-mc-numbers-regulators-are-trying-to-stop) (FreightWaves, 2026-03-16) - [49 CFR 365.405T: Applications (transfers of operating rights)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/365.405T) (Cornell LII) - [49 CFR 365.413T: Procedures for changing the name or business form](https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/365.413T) (Cornell LII) - [Highway Q2 2026 Freight Fraud Index press release](https://highway.com/press-releases/q2-2026-freight-fraud-index-half-of-all-incidents-now-tied-to-communication-based-attacks) (Vendor data, 2026-07-28) - [H.R. 8267, SAFER Transport Act (introduced)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr8267ih/html/BILLS-119hr8267ih.htm) (GPO, introduced 2026-04-14) - [Federal Register: Availability of Motus, FMCSA's New Registration System](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-04-29/html/2026-08334.htm) (FR Doc 2026-08334, 2026-04-29) ## Related free tools - [Carrier risk check](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/carrier-check): Enter a USDOT or MC number. See authority age, revocations, insurance, out-of-service orders, and other carriers sharing the same phone, email, or address. - [Bank-change verification checklist](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/remit-change-checklist): The step-by-step SOP for verifying a carrier's remit-to or bank-account change before any money moves. Score your process and print it. - [50-state UCC search directory](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/ucc-search): Where and how to run a UCC lien search in every state and DC: official search links, costs, and certified-search options.