Tonight, the results of an eight-month investigation into a dangerous scheme many Americans have never heard of — a scheme that may be putting all of us at risk on the road.

Our investigation took us to truck stops in Florida and sources in Europe, to examine what are called chameleon carriers — commercial trucking fleets, often foreign-owned and operated, that shed one identity for another after racking up flagrant safety violations and flouting federal regulations.

Our reporting focused on Super Ego Holding — a network of commercial trucking and leasing companies based in Serbia and the U.S. It's currently under federal investigation and named in a class action lawsuit. Regulators and former employees call it one of the most notorious chameleon schemes — a ticking time bomb on our nation's roadways.

Rob Carpenter: Chameleon carriers are basically a network of companies and they constantly reincarnate and the idea is we are revenue-focused, we are going to start this trucking company, we are going to run it into the ground to make as much money as we possibly can.

Rob Carpenter has been a trucker for 25 years. 

He now is a trucking safety consultant and has been tracking chameleon companies which have surged since the pandemic.

Chameleon carriers, as their name suggests, are commercial trucking operations that skirt federal regulations and escape bad safety records by changing company names to evade detection.

Rob Carpenter: And when you move on to the next, you're really doing that to try to abandon the history that you've created with that other trucking company because you've run so poorly in the past year, right? So then you just adopt a new identity and you move on to a new carrier.

Bill Whitaker: Just dissolve that company and--

Rob Carpenter: Just completely dissolve it--

Bill Whitaker: --slap a new name on the truck and move on--

Rob Carpenter: That's right.

You can see how easy it is in this undercover video, shot by another trucker: 

Same drivers, same trucks, same bad records —in this case hundreds of violations erased with the switch of a carrier name and Department of Transportation number – the federal ID used to track a carrier's safety history.

Rob Carpenter: You've got no violations. You've got no crashes. Things that people are gonna look at and scrutinize on whether they're gonna let you haul their freight or not don't exist. You're just a clean carrier to them. 

Networks often owned and operated from eastern Europe, India and central Asia, set up chameleon carriers in the U.S. with different names and owners, who then register with the Department of Transportation, secure minimal insurance....

Rob Carpenter: And within 21 days, you have a trucking company. 

Bill Whitaker: That's all it takes.

Rob Carpenter: That's all it takes. There's no requirement to own a trucking company that you be an American. You can start it from anywhere in the world. $1,000, pay online, say you are who you say you are, and you've got a trucking company. 

Bill Whitaker: Do you have any idea how many of them there are?

Rob Carpenter: You've got 700,000 trucking companies. Let's just say-- the general estimate is 10% to 20% are operating somewhere in that spectrum of chameleon carrier. Thousands of trucking companies.

Bill Whitaker: That's mind blowing.

Rob Carpenter: Yeah.

Thousands of trucking companies racking up thousands of safety violations – poor maintenance, excessive driving hours, drug and alcohol use – all while evading federal enforcement.

Bill Whitaker: How dangerous is this?

Rob Carpenter: We're having crashes-- all the time. So you've got 260 million other Americans on the highway sharing it with 700,000 trucking companies. You have a moral, ethical responsibility to share the road safely with those people. But when you've got 10% to 20% that are not doing that, that's an issue.

An issue that contributed to the more than 5,300 truck-related deaths in 2024. According to data gathered by Fusable – a risk assessment firm, chameleon carriers are four times more likely to be involved in a crash like this….

The culprit in this case? A tractor-trailer tied to a network called Super Ego Holding.

Its driver was going 72 miles an hour when it plowed into this school bus, critically injuring two children.

According to DOT data, chameleon carriers connected to Super Ego have logged almost 15,000 safety violations and 500 accidents in the last two years.

Today, there are only 350 investigators at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA, overseeing all 700,000 trucking companies on our roads.

Bill Whitaker: Those numbers just seem outta whack.

Derek Barrs: We are actively trying to find ways that we can do investigations more efficiently, more effectively.

Derek Barrs took over as administrator of FMCSA in October. This past year regulators cracked down on foreign commercial truck drivers and fraudulent commercial driving schools, and have vowed to take on chameleon carriers.

Bill Whitaker: Do you have the personnel and the resources you need?

Derek Barrs: We have additional 40 investigators that we're trying to hire today. We have a new registration system that we will be rolling out this year -- the system we have currently is, like, 40 years old.

Bill Whitaker: I mean, you've got these rogue companies. They rack up tons of safety violations. They're a federally regulated industry, how is that possible?

Derek Barrs: We have a front door problem, meaning we need to stop this before they actually get into the system.

Bill Whitaker: Are you familiar with the chameleon carrier company, Super Ego? Are they on your radar?

Derek Barrs: They're part of an ongoing investigation. We have prioritized companies who, through our data gathering, that are our top ten companies that we need to be investigating.

We reached out to Super Ego. Company lawyers told us its a leasing company not a trucking firm and that it is not responsible for the actions of affiliated carriers and drivers. But according to our investigation and court documents, that's not the whole story.

Under the Super Ego umbrella that stretches from Serbia to the U.S., is a vast network of separate, but coordinated companies that provide brokers, who book deliveries; dispatchers and leases for tractors and trailers. 

Subsidiaries operate the trucks and hire drivers, like Daniel Sanchez, under lease-to-own contracts.

Daniel Sanchez: I've seen how much they don't care about you. They literally don't care about any other driver on the road at all.

Daniel Sanchez had been driving commercial rigs for eight years when he was recruited by Super Ego in 2025. 

Daniel Sanchez: They'd have me go out and do anything to get the money no matter what the risk. They don't care if I got-- a violation or went to jail, whatever, for any reason. The next day, they'd have another driver in that truck and keep on goin'.

Bill Whitaker: Can't be safe for the driver. Can't be safe for us on the road--

Daniel Sanchez: Anybody. Anybody.

Super Ego branded trucks started hauling freight across America seven years ago. It was founded by Serbian entrepreneur Aleksandar Mimic and has grown into a sprawling enterprise tied to more than two-dozen U.S.-based carriers, with hubs in Elmhurst, Illinois, and Jacksonville, Florida, and customers as large as Amazon, Walmart, Costco and the United States Postal Service.

Super Ego Holding uses flashy recruitment campaigns to lure drivers, including Daniel Sanchez.

Daniel Sanchez: They promise you the world. They say you can make-- 8 to 10 $12,000 a week.

Bill Whitaker: So did Super Ego live up to any of those promises?

Daniel Sanchez: Not at all. 

60 Minutes spoke with seven drivers who told us Serbia-based managers routinely skimmed hundreds to thousands of dollars off their pay in excessive fees for their lease, insurance, and repairs. The class action lawsuit calls it "a scheme to defraud drivers."

Daniel Sanchez: I was coming home with negative-- negative amounts in my check.

Bill Whitaker: Negative amounts--

Daniel Sanchez: Negative. Yeah, it was in the red. I was doin' around 6 to 800 miles a day with that company--

Bill Whitaker: And you come home--

Daniel Sanchez: With zero.

Drivers also told us the company would shortchange them by altering delivery contracts- or rate cons - which confirm how much a broker has agreed to pay to move freight - a percentage of that goes to the driver.

Court documents show this rate con sheet on the left is the original. This fraudulent one on the right shows a cut of $700 resulting in reduced compensation for the trucker - a practice captured in this call between a dispatcher and another driver.

Driver: Can you please send me the other document that the broker sent you? 

Dispatcher: Yea, I can send you, but why?

Driver: He told me that he was sending out the rate con for 1500 bucks. And then 5 minutes later you call me and tell me I'm getting 300 bucks. Do you see what it looks like from my point of view?

And remember that shell game of erasing carrier names and DOT numbers to hide violations? Sanchez says he was told to do that too.

Bill Whitaker: How would you physically change the number and the name?

Daniel Sanchez: They'd email you or they'd send you some kind of documentation with a picture of the new name and DOT number. They'd have me print it out buy some duct tape. Come out, put it on the truck.

Bill Whitaker: With duct tape.

Daniel Sanchez: Duct tape, yeah.

Bill Whitaker: Change the name and the number.

Daniel Sanchez: Yeah. Completely new truck at that point.

Drivers also told us they were being pressured to drive more hours with less sleep.

After they'd already logged 11 hours behind the wheel - the legal limit - managers back in Serbia would illegally reset federally mandated time clocks as seen in this animation - to give drivers a fresh set of hours, as heard in this call.

Driver: Delivering 2 p.m. in 24 hours? 

Dispatcher: Yeah. Yeah.

Driver: That's going to be awful difficult!

Dispatcher: Yeah I know, I know, but we can fix your clock.

Daniel Sanchez: By the push of a button, I guess, somehow somewhere they have control of the app where they can just reset your time. Just make it go away.

Bill Whitaker: You've driven 11 hours. You're required to have the down time. And they change the device to make it seem as though you have not finished your 11 hours?

Daniel Sanchez: Yeah. There's been a time where I drove-- I was driving for eight-- 18 hours. And I told 'em. I said, "I'm done. I'm going to sleep and parking." The text message said we don't care about that, "they're not payin' for you to do anything but use the restroom and drive."

We met this whistleblower - a former employee of a Super Ego affiliated company based in Serbia - in an undisclosed European city and altered his appearance for his protection.

Super Ego Whistleblower: They are only asking about making money from the driver. They don't take care about safety standards.

He confirmed company dispatchers and managers were told to overwork and extort American drivers like Sanchez at every turn.

Bill Whitaker: They train you to do this?

Super Ego Whistleblower: Yeah. They explain me that it's normal - a normal thing to do. 

Bill Whitaker: What have drivers been most upset about?

Super Ego Whistleblower: They don't have money enough to pay bills. They don't have money to eat. They don't have money to pay rent.

Bill Whitaker: The dispatchers-- do they have any concern for the drivers? Any compassion?

Super Ego Whistleblower: They don't have emotions- it's job. 

Bill Whitaker: Just a job. And you squeeze as much money out of this driver as you can.

Super Ego Whistleblower: Yeah, It's better to our owner make money than them.

He told us taking money from drivers became a competition. Lists like this were posted inside his Belgrade office. The more they took, the bigger their bonuses.

During this pay period, the top dispatcher cut nearly $24,000 - or 32% from drivers' pay.

Bill Whitaker: Any idea how much of the company's profit is earned that way?

Super Ego Whistleblower: some week $1 million, some week $2 millions. 

Bill Whitaker: Per week?

Super Ego Whistleblower: Yes.

Due to a compliance dispute, Daniel Sanchez lost his job in January - along with his truck and the $35,000 he'd put toward owning it. 

Daniel Sanchez: For me personally, it's crushing. Cause this is my dream. I wanted to own my own truck. I thought this company was gonna – you know - get me to where I'm trying to be. They just don't care.You're not a human being for them. You're just a number basically for sure that.

Super Ego Holding denies any wrongdoing, but more than 800 truckers are suing it and affiliated companies for fraud and breach of contract.

More of our CBS News investigation into chameleon carriers, coming up on Sunday morning.

Produced by Ashley Velie. Associate produce, Eliza Costas. Broadcast associate, Mariah Johnson. Edited by Michael Mongulla.