Giving a credit card number over the phone is an easy way to pay your bills. We trust the company representative on the other end of the line not to misuse our personal information, but one employee broke that trust.

“So many dollars,” says the elderly customer. Phoning it in seemed like a safe and easy way to pay her cell phone bill. “I gave them my credit card number and told how much I wanted to put on it.”

Then she discovered a $2,400 Dell computer charged to her credit card. “And I said we don't use the computer around here. I got one old one that I play Yahtzee on and that's it.”

The fraud victim, who asked not to be identified, filed a police report, which led to the arrest of Jeremy Dalton, believed to be a former Alltel Verizon employee.

Besides taking credit card numbers over the phone, investigators allege the suspect also took credit cards from customers who came into the phone store. They wouldn't be suspicious when he entered their credit card numbers on his computer.

“To the customer it appeared he was typing the information on the computer for a valid purpose when in reality he was typing the information on a word document that he could retrieve later and use information for his purposes,” says Douglas County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Steve Glandt.

Investigators believe only a handful of customer credit cards have been compromised, but the investigation continues. This woman won't have to pay the fraudulent bill on her account, but it did cost her a measure of trust when paying for anything by phone.

“Over the phone you trust those kind of people, but I don't know whether I want to now or not."

Dalton’s attorney declined to comment on charges against his client. Verizon Wireless provided Six On Your Side with a statement indicating that Verizon will cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation.