11:22 AM EDT on Wednesday, May 10, 2006

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- About six weeks ago, a neighbor spotted two people trying to steal a license plate from a car parked on Tile Factory Lane. When police arrived, they noticed a carful of credit cards and electronics. After being served with a search warrant, suspects Nailya Abasova and Jeffrey Berg started talking.

“Both subjects admitted to being involved in an international credit card scam, whereby Berg would receive approximately 50 cards a week from overseas. Berg would then create or alter existing credit cards in order to shop for items that were also forwarded to him on a list,” read the search warrant.

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“They had credit cards, numerous amounts of credit cards that the magnetic strips had been altered to where they could use them to purchase anything they wanted,” says Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Kevin Glogower.

Some of those items, according to the search warrant, included Canon digital cameras, two laptop computers, a GPS monitor and a credit card reader. Abasova told officers she was hiding a flash card in her bra.

Glogower says it's possible some Kentuckiana residents were indirectly affected by the credit card scam: “The credit cards may have come from someone else before they were altered. I'm not 100 percent clear on how they got their hands on the amount of credit cards they had.”

But that alteration of the magnetic strip makes it impossible to check a statement online to look for unusual activity. The prosecutor says that means their investigation is still open and could include more charges, possibly even federal crimes.    

Glogower credits good police work for catching the two: “If that hadn't happened, there's no way to tell how long they could have been doing what they were doing.”

The prosecutor said one federal agency has worked on the case. We tried to confirm that with the secret service tonight but did not get an answer.

Web story produced by Jay Ditzer.