He’s very good at what he does – a nameless, faceless individual thought to be somewhere in the Chicago area. He uses a handful of pre-paid, untraceable cell phones, and name drops familiar equipment rental companies across the country. Sometimes he pretends to be an employee authorized to order equipment such as generators and high-speed saws on company accounts. He knows how the equipment rental industry works, and he talks with confidence and urgency.
He has, to date, successfully scammed rental companies out of hundreds of thousands of dollars in various types of equipment.
A law enforcement investigation determined that this individual had been making hundreds of calls a week to branches of large equipment rental companies across the country. At United Rentals, Corporate Security began sending out a stream of alerts to all of its branches, keeping them updated on his methodology, as well as the names and numbers he was using. It turned out to be an effective way to curtail his scams at company branches, although he hasn’t yet been apprehended.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), almost one billion dollars worth of construction equipment is stolen each year. While much of it is taken from contractor work sites, a significant amount is lost through fraudulent rentals. Some companies have invested in technologies for spotting fake driver’s licenses and credit cards. Others photocopy licenses and credit cards, educate employees about fraud detection, and even take customer thumbprints.
Despite these precautions, criminal activity prevails – and like most rental companies, United Rentals is no stranger to fraud. In southern California, for example, three young adults went to four separate company branches and rented a generator and high-speed saw from each. They presented counterfeit California ID cards and cloned credit cards. Then they repeated the scam at other area equipment rental companies, and while they were eventually arrested, none of the equipment was recovered. Losses like this happen far too frequently, and they motivated United Rentals to seek a better way to reduce risk industry-wide.
Landmark collaboration leads to a solution
The International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators (IAFCI), to which United Rentals belongs, is comprised of more than 1,000 members, including government law enforcement agencies, major banks and credit unions, credit card companies and large retailers. Through IFACI, members have access to the CrimeDex information-sharing technology platform, where they can post alerts about financial crimes for email distribution to the membership. Many of the alerts indicate a dramatic increase in credit card fraud following on the heels of the large data breaches reported recently.
Inspired by the IAFCI platform, United Rentals envisioned a similar model solely for equipment rental alerts. The company approached Jim Hudson, president of 3VR CrimeDex, which furnishes the platform, to see if it would be possible to set up a similar technology for the rental industry. Hudson responded by creating a collaborative, rental-specific message board, which has been launched as ERIG – the Equipment Rental Industry Group.
As agreed by its founders, ERIG is open to all rental companies of any size. Importantly, it is free to join and use through United Rentals’ affiliation with CrimeDex and IAFCA. Although ERIG is just a few months old, several of the industry’s largest equipment rental companies have already signed on (see sidebar), as well as smaller rental operators and representatives of the National Equipment Registry and the American Rental Association. There is no limit to the number of employees who can register from any one rental company.
The ERIG information-sharing message board is an unprecedented defense against fraud for equipment rental companies. It has the potential to be a powerful “neighborhood watch” program for the entire industry – one that will grow exponentially as participants sign on. By sharing timely alerts with peers about fraudulent rentals, scams and other criminal activity, rental companies can create a barrier of knowledge that prevents the loss of valuable equipment assets.
ERIG is attacking fraud in a way the industry has not seen before: by making equipment rental locations the eyes and ears of the industry, vigilant against loss. At the same time, these locations are armed by their peers with actionable information against fraud. ERIG is one of those rare opportunities where the risk/reward evaluation is 100 percent reward/no risk – and lower risk for your rental assets as well.
An ERIG registration link may be obtained by contacting Michael Marsalisi at [email protected].
SIDEBAR
ERIG: Both Proactive and Preventative
One of ERIG’s great strengths is that companies can share information about rentals they refused because of concerns about legitimacy, and include details about the suspect’s methods. This recent example of a posted alert will look familiar to ERIG members. The suspect’s personal information has been suppressed for publication:
Received from a large equipment rental company via the Equipment Rental Industry Group (ERIG) Message Board:
Our Fort Wayne, IN branch had a guy call in and talk to a service rep earlier in the day by the name of Mark ------ @ 317-496----- 317-496-----. He said he was a supervisor for -------- and wanted to pick up (5) Stihl Cut Off Saws; (5) diamond blades and a small 3,000-watt portable generator. The rep quoted the price and the customer said they would stop in and get them. When the customer came, they loaded 5 saws, 5 blades and the generator in his vehicle. The person that came in was not "Mark -----". The vehicle was a 2013 Kia Sorrento with a cracked windshield. When he signed the sales agreement back in the office, we asked him for a driver’s license. He said he left it at home. The name he gave the branch was
"Curtis -----". He said he was just a "courier" for ---------- and was sent here by "Mark -----". Not having a driver’s license he threw up a ton of red flags. The service manager told the rep to take a picture of the license plate of the vehicle. The service manager called the office number for -----------. The service manager spoke directly with ------------ and asked them if they have a "Mark -----" or a "Curtis -------" that works for them. She said "no" and to not give them anything. She went on to tell me the same two people tried to buy the exact same items from a rental store in Indy over the weekend. The service rep went back out front and told "Curtis ---------" that he needed to unload my stuff out of his car and he needed to leave. The branch unloaded his car and he even showed me some kind of delivery device like UPS uses that you sign that had an email on it from ------------ to pick the stuff up. The email was also bogus. Not wanting any confrontation or violence, the branch asked him politely to leave and to come back when he has details worked out with ------------. When he left, the branch called the police and told them what had happened. They ran the license plate and apparently the plate was stolen off a rental car.
Upon receiving the above ERIG alert, United Rentals distributed it to all branches and shares this response from the branch manager in Stillwater, Oklahoma: This customer called our branch today. Ruth Ann recognized the name and did not help him. Great job, Ruth Ann!
