StarBulletin.com

Woman held in 6-figure fraud case


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POSTED: Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Kailua woman was being held on $1 million bail after prosecutors charged her yesterday in connection with a massive identity theft scheme.

Susan E. Shaw was arrested at the Honolulu Airport on Thursday on 151 counts, including identity theft, forgery, and fraudulent use of a credit card.

The arrest came after a year-long investigation. Police believe Shaw stole $160,773.76 from 11 victims.

According to court documents, police found 63 different gift cards, numerous receipts from stores were the identity thefts occurred, and some clothing with store tags still on them during a search of Shaw's home.

Court documents said Shaw opened several credit card accounts in a victim's name and used the cards before moving onto other victims. Store clerks identified Shaw as the person using the credit cards.

In one case in June 2008, an Oahu resident stopped receiving his mail for two to three weeks, court documents said. Checking with the Kalihi post office, he found someone submitted a change of address to forward his mail to Kailua.

He found five credit cards opened in his name with $1,000 charged to one card.

In another case, a Kailua resident found six credit card accounts were opened in his name after he stopped getting his mail in August. He found more than $16,000 in charges to the cards.