Man Held as Suspect in Credit Card Ring

Los Angeles police detectives have arrested a Los Angeles man who they believe may be operating with a Sherman Oaks couple arrested for allegedly selling property bought with fraudulent credit cards.

Lucky Alfredo, 33, was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of using fake identifications to accomplish forgery, police said.

Police say Alfredo, who is being held on $1 million bail in the Van Nuys jail, is believed to be part of a network of Nigerians--based on the East Coast--who are buying expensive merchandise with fraudulent credit cards and selling it for a profit.

Last week, Eyituoyo Commey and Philomena Ejededawe, a Sherman Oaks couple, were arrested after they allegedly bought merchandise using falsely obtained credit cards, police said.

Acting on a tip, detectives from the LAPD’s bunco forgery unit in Van Nuys served search warrants Thursday for Alfredo’s Los Angeles apartment, a storage unit in West Hollywood and a safe deposit box in a Beverly Hills bank. The search turned up cellular phones, credit cards, $115,200 in cash and jewelry, according to police.

Late Friday, detectives served another search warrant for a storage unit in West Hollywood, looking for stolen merchandise.

Alfredo, who also uses the name Lucky Osadolor, was arrested in San Francisco in 1995 on the same charge--using fake IDs to accomplish a forgery--and was on three years’ felony probation when he was arrested, police said.

Besides having a fake U.S. passport and New Jersey driver’s license, Alfredo also had a list of names, birth dates and Social Security numbers that he could use to obtain credit cards, police said.

“They basically use that information to tap into your credit,” said Det. Juan Baello with the Van Nuys Division.

Detectives said they believe Alfredo used wire transfers to send large amounts of cash to other bank accounts he had around the world--in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, London and Libya.

The State Department is also conducting an investigation into how Alfredo obtained a fake U.S. passport.