Sounds like you may have found a great deal in a #### show. Hope that is the case and it works out on a regular for you.
I would just like to say to @spearwarrior Thank you. An see..I was right, you got a ton of replies! Good luck, an be safe. Sirscrapntruckalot - Pleased as punch. Which begs the question...how pleased is punch? Welcome to another unsolved mystery.
So... none of this helps other people unless you tell us who the bad guys are. Also, this was a great opportunity to get some direct freight. Hope you took advantage of it!
Everybody wants to be a owner operator. It'll take a month to make up for this. Your at the bottom of this food chain. The broker and shipper are telling you To take it or leave it. To hell with what some rate con says. If you need the money, take the 7 grand and Write it off as a lesson learned. Option B, with a reefer load ain't worth the trouble.
The true broker and the second broker that alerted me to the potential fraud are both innocent until proven guilty. The potentially bad company in all of this is Mason Trucking I don't have their MC or I'd post it. I've read for countless hours on this site and attribute my success to that fact. I just wanted to share a learning experience. I thought I was careful and may have gotten too lax in checking brokers credit. Brokers that send pdf file packet and call from number not ond fmcsa or dat and need truck to move asap and can't do fuel advance is now major red flag. I didn't cash the check, but not because I didn't try. The owner letting me use his car to go try and cash the check convinced me its good. No Citi Bank Branch in too many locations so I'm going to open chase or BofA account.
Open an account with a credit union in the co-op network and you have 30k free ATMs nationwide and no check cashing fees. Mine credits my account when they get the check or it goes in an affiliated ATM.
There are about half a dozen double broker specialists operating out in SoCal i could steer you away from. If you want a list, let me know.