A second woman is facing identity theft charges as police investigate whether personal information may have been stolen from Honolulu Star-Advertiser records.
Dennis Francis, president and publisher of the Star-Advertiser, said the newspaper is not aware of any subscriber information being obtained or used fraudulently, and that a small number of advertising accounts using a credit card to pay bills may be involved.
A 52-year-old woman was indicted by an Oahu grand jury Wednesday and faces charges of second-degree identity theft, fraudulent use of a credit card, unauthorized possession of confidential personal information and second-degree attempted theft.
Tori Kameyo Samiere, who has no local address, was arrested Monday and is being held at Oahu Community Correctional Center unable to post $50,000 bail.
Police are investigating whether Samiere and another woman, Sadie Groy, used stolen personal information from records that were being kept in a storage facility, a source said.
Groy, 30, pleaded not guilty Thursday to 20 criminal charges after allegedly racking up $21,000 on a counterfeit credit card during a five-day shopping spree. She is being held at OCCC unable to post $500,000 bail. Groy’s alleged victim said bank officials told him Groy used a fake credit card with her name and his business credit card’s number from May 1 to 5.
How the women obtained the stolen information is unclear, and police are investigating how many people may be affected.
Samiere is set to enter a plea Monday before Circuit Judge Richard Perkins.
Her alleged victim, a local businessman who asked not to be identified, said police told him Samiere used a counterfeit card embossed with his business credit card number to spend $855 on May 6. Samiere bought gift cards at Safeway in Hawaii Kai and cosmetics from BeautiControl, an online cosmetics company, before the bank froze the account, the victim said.
Brent Suyama, spokesman for the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, said if the personal information of more than 1,000 people is stolen from a business, state law requires the company to notify the department and the affected individuals. The department will also inform the affected people.
Suyama said the department does not have any current data breach incidents requiring it to make notifications.
