Security Guard Foils Fake Credit Card Ring

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A security staffer at a retail store helped break up an interstate crime ring that used counterfeit credit cards from Georgia to Ohio, police said.
Three men were arrested after a loss-prevention manager at a Meijer store in Lexington, Kentucky reported that they were acting strangely while buying iPods.
The men, Le Yu, 22, Lei Tian, 22, and Liye Zhei, 23, are believed to be Chinese citizens who have used faked credit cards in at least five states, according to Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts.
Lexington police were called after the Meijer employee observed them "acting strangely" on Friday, Roberts said. The men allegedly used fake credit cards to buy iPods, The Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
The employee gave police a description of the men and their car, and the car was stopped and police found iPods and 86 fake credit cards, Roberts said. According to court records, the men also had $5,200 worth of phone cards and at least $4,700.
The employee "called us just off a hunch -- just off a behavior," Roberts said. "One person's sharp eye really helped to stop this activity."
Roberts said she could not identify the employee who alerted police.
The men were charged with 86 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and one count each of false making or embossing of a credit card, and receiving goods by fraud under $10,000.
It appeared the men flew to Atlanta from California and drove north along Interstate 75, using the cards in Georgia, Ohio and Indiana, Roberts said.
A district judge entered not-guilty pleas for the men during an arraignment Monday because they did not have attorneys.