COBB COUNTY, Ga. — An Enterprise Rent-A-Car employee is off the job for allegedly stealing personal information from a customer.
Torenzo Richardson is charged with identity theft fraud. Richardson is accused of committing the crime while he was entering a customer’s rental car information. Investigators can’t release details on the case because it’s still under investigation.
“We’re putting all of our resources on this because of the potential for a broad impact,” said Lt. Col. Arthur Peralta, Asst. Commander of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Unit.
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According to court documents, Richardson allegedly took pictures of the victim’s information on his cellphone and tried to buy items online. He later indicated there were more victims.
Investigators say this isn’t the first time they’ve investigated an employee of a business for identity fraud.
“It’s not uncommon. It’s not an everyday thing because for the most part retailers hire people who are very trustworthy,” said Lt. Col. Peralta.
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Enterprise Rent-A-Car released a statement about Richardson’s employment status:
“The safety and privacy of our customers is an important priority for us as a company. We are actively cooperating in this investigation with authorities and the individual involved in this incident is no longer employed with Enterprise.”
— Lisa Martini, Enterprise Holdings
Investigators say consumers should always be aware.
“If you have one individual who is doing this in one retail establishment or in some type of corporate setting then you could potentially have 50, 100, 150 victims,” Lt. Col. Peralta said. “They all may have small fraudulent activity on their credit cards but the impact is very broad. It is not uncommon to come across an individual who has either gained access to a consumer credit card because of a transaction that occurred at a retail establishment or to get credit statements discarded in the trash and they get the credit card numbers from the statement.”
The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office says consumers should check their credit statements regularly if they ever fall victim to identity fraud.
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