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Moving Scams: The Red Flags, and What to Do If a Mover Holds Your Goods

Last checked October 12, 2026 Checking a mover

Most moving fraud follows the same script: a low price quoted without anyone seeing your belongings, a deposit to “lock in” the date, and a much larger bill once everything you own is on the truck. Federal law caps what an interstate mover can demand at delivery, and knowing that cap is the single most useful thing you can bring to moving day.

How the typical scam works

The pattern is consistent enough that federal regulators publish a list of warning signs for it. A company, often a broker with a professional website, quotes a price well below the market over the phone or through an online form. It asks for a sizeable deposit. On moving day a crew arrives, sometimes in an unmarked rental truck, loads everything and then announces that the shipment is heavier or larger than estimated. The new price is presented as non-negotiable, and the goods are on the truck.

From there the leverage only grows. Some operators deliver nothing until the new price is paid in full, a practice regulators call holding goods hostage. It is illegal, and it is also one of the most common complaints the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration receives about household goods movers.

The red flags

FMCSA’s own list is worth reading in full on its Protect Your Move site. In practice, these are the ones that matter most:

  • A price with no survey. An estimate given over the phone or online, without anyone looking at what you own, in person or by video.
  • No written estimate, or a promise that the price will be worked out after loading.
  • Cash or a large deposit up front. Reputable interstate movers do not need most of the job paid before they arrive. See our guide to what deposit is normal.
  • Blank or incomplete documents to sign. Federal rules forbid a mover from requiring you to sign a blank document.
  • Missing federal paperwork. Movers and brokers must give you the “Your Rights and Responsibilities When You Move” booklet and the “Ready to Move” brochure.
  • No physical address, no USDOT number, or a phone answered only as “movers”.
  • A claim that “everything is covered by insurance”. Movers offer valuation, not insurance, and the default levels are specific. Our valuation guide explains them.
  • A rental truck instead of a marked fleet truck on moving day.

What the law says you owe at delivery

This is the protection to memorize. On a non-binding estimate, the most an interstate carrier can demand at delivery is 110 percent of the estimate, plus charges for services you added after the bill of lading was issued, plus any impracticable operations charge (capped at 15 percent of the other charges). Anything above that must be billed afterwards, and you have at least 30 days to pay it. On a binding estimate, the cap is the estimate itself, plus those same added services and impracticable operations charges.

The figure you can be asked to pay at delivery must be written on your bill of lading as the maximum amount the carrier will demand. If a crew asks for more than that number, it is asking for more than the law allows. Our explainer on reading a bill of lading shows where to find it.

If a mover holds your goods

  1. Stay calm and get the demand in writing. Ask for the new total, how it was calculated and the weight tickets if the charge is weight-based.
  2. Offer the legal maximum. Tender payment up to the amount the law requires, by a traceable method, and keep proof that you offered it. Write “paid under protest” on anything you sign.
  3. Document everything. Keep the estimate, the bill of lading, the inventory, texts, emails and the names of everyone you dealt with.
  4. Call local police. Responses vary by state and department, but a report creates a record and sometimes prompts quick action.
  5. File a federal complaint. Use FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database online or call 1-888-368-7238. Hostage loads are a specific enforcement priority, and complaints from several customers about the same company are what trigger investigations.
  6. Contact your state attorney general and, for serious fraud, the Department of Transportation Inspector General’s hotline at 1-800-424-9071.

Federal law treats holding household goods hostage as a serious violation. It carries civil penalties under 49 U.S.C. 14915, with each day the goods are held counting as a separate violation, and FMCSA can suspend the registration of a carrier or broker found doing it.

Prevention is mostly verification

Every scam above depends on you hiring a company you have not checked. Look up the USDOT number before you pay anything. Confirm the authority is active, the company is a carrier and not only a broker, and the insurance is on file.

Check a mover against the federal record

Every legitimate interstate moving company holds a USDOT number. Enter it below to read the public FMCSA Company Snapshot for that carrier: operating status, safety rating, fleet size and recorded crashes. Nothing you type is stored or sent anywhere else.

A mover that will not give you a USDOT number in writing is the answer to your question.

Source: FMCSA Company Snapshot, the public record maintained by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Read the official record at safer.fmcsa.dot.gov. MoverChecked is not affiliated with FMCSA and does not rate or recommend any company.

Then work through the full six verification checks, and if a broker is involved, read how brokers and carriers differ.

Sources: FMCSA Protect Your Move red flags and consumer rights pages; 49 CFR 375.703 and 375.505; 49 U.S.C. 14915; FMCSA policy on suspension for hostage load violations. This page is general information, not legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026.