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Eight charged with stealing 19 rental cars worth $1.1 million in identity fraud scheme

The suspects reserved rental cars using stolen credit card information and false identities, per an indictment. Getty Images
  • Eight people were indicted on charges that they defrauded a car rental firm by stealing 19 vehicles.
  • The Department of Justice said the group would reserve rentals with fake IDs and credit cards.
  • An indictment alleged the individuals rented the cars from airports and never returned them.

Eight people have been indicted in St. Louis on charges that allege they stole at least 19 rental cars worth more than $1 million as part of an identity fraud scheme.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Department of Justice said eight people aged 32 to 39 had been indicted at the US District Court in St. Louis for defrauding a company it named “Business E.H.”

The company is headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, per the indictment, which Insider has reviewed.

According to the indictment, the suspects would reserve rental cars from the company using stolen credit card information and false identities. They would then pick the vehicles up using false documents and counterfeit credit cards, it stated.

It added that the value of the stolen cars

was just over $1.1 million.

The indictment said Tyrell Oliver, one of those indicted, would make the reservations and pay co-conspirators to pick up the vehicles.

They would fly to airports in the eastern US and Midwest to pick up the vehicles, which included a BMW X7, GMC Yukon, and Chevrolet

Suburban, the indictment said.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how criminals use people’s stolen identities,” said Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division. 

“Perpetrators can easily and cheaply buy an endless supply of personal and credit card information. While the company in this case was the direct victim, innocent people were initially accused of theft because their stolen identities were used to commit the fraud.”

The DoJ said the charges in the indictment were merely accusations and did not constitute proof of guilt.