Operation Protect Your Move: Federal Scam Crackdown

When people ask whether anyone actually goes after scam movers, the clearest answer is a program with a name: Operation Protect Your Move (OPYM), FMCSA’s recurring nationwide enforcement effort aimed at fraudulent interstate household-goods movers and brokers.^[1] This page explains what it is and what it does — and, just as important, what it doesn’t. It is general information, not legal advice.

What the operation is

OPYM is a coordinated, nationwide push in which FMCSA investigators focus on the movers and brokers that generate the most complaints — the kind of operators behind the hostage-load and deposit patterns this site documents. It runs in waves rather than continuously, and it leans on the complaint record to decide where to look.

What it has found

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, FMCSA’s 2023 operations turned up more than 1,000 violations of the agency’s regulations. The agency responded with letters of probable violation and, in some cases, revoked operating authority; the Department of Justice also filed a civil penalty case stemming from that work.^[2] In other words, the enforcement is real, and it has teeth for the companies it reaches.

What it does — and doesn’t — do for you

Why your complaint matters to it

Operations like this are built on accumulated complaints. The companies that get investigated or shut down are the ones that were reported, repeatedly, in the National Consumer Complaint Database.^[3] A single filing rarely fixes one person’s move, but it is how the pattern against a bad actor is built — the same dynamic behind reincarnated movers re-registering to escape that record, and the Thompson Nation Holdings matter.

For where to report a mover, see how to report a moving company.

Last reviewed: June 5, 2026