High-tech trackers
solve credit-card case
Honolulu police and Secret Service agents nabbed a 35-year-old Kaimuki man Monday who allegedly used stolen credit cards to buy Internet time at a computer kiosk at the Ala Moana Hotel.
Police arrested the suspect on suspicion of forgery and drug violations from a case in May.
The man was just about to leave after using a computer at 7:50 a.m. Monday at an ShakaNet Internet kiosk in the Ala Moana Hotel lobby when a security officer detained him for the Secret Service, police said.
Police and the Secret Service, which investigates credit card fraud, are trying to determine whether the man was surfing the Net for entertainment or to fraudulently purchase items.
ShakaNet contacted the Secret Service two months ago after receiving a call from a woman whose credit card had been stolen. ShakaNet's name and phone number showed up on the woman's credit card billing statement, so she called the company, said Nam Vu, chief technology officer for ShakaNet.
The company has been cooperating with the Secret Service for two months to monitor and notify agents about the suspect, who has been using its computers, Vu said.
"Our system is pretty high-tech," Vu said. "We knew exactly when he was jumping on."
Vu received an automatic page when a person using a stolen credit card logged onto the company's computer Monday.
Vu immediately notified police and Secret Service, which sent officers and agents.
A police detective recognized the man from a photo ID he used May 1 to cash a stolen check from a Maui business, said Lt. Pat Tomasu of the Hono- lulu Police Department's Financial Fraud Detail. The officer arrested the man for second- degree forgery, Tomasu said.
At the time of the arrest, officers also found drugs on him, police said. He was also arrested for suspicion of possession of dangerous drugs.
Vu said his company has had to eat the $25 assessed by the credit card companies each time a stolen card is used and online charges aren't paid. Vu and police would not give total losses.
But Vu said it's worth it.
"I would rather get this guy off the street than let him go off and do it somewhere else," Vu said.
Police are investigating whether the suspect committed identity theft by stealing IDs.
