Two Aiea women are facing federal charges after allegedly stealing a check and credit card number from a man in his 90s to spend more than $20,000 on cars, jewelry, equipment and spa treatments.

Hawaii residents over the age of 60 lost nearly $28 million last year due to fraud schemes targeting older Americans’ money or cryptocurrency, according to the FBI.

In Hawaii, 453 complaints were filed with the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center last year, ranking the state 37th nationally. California led the nation with 11,622 elder fraud complaints last year.

Kalehuaiwilliamekamaile “Maile” Montez and Totie Tauala were charged in a federal criminal complaint on Oct. 20 with wire fraud, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit fraud. Montez pleaded not guilty Tuesday, while Tauala pleaded not guilty Nov. 5 ahead of his Dec. 31 trial.

Between Feb. 12 and March 19, two women allegedly made “unauthorized purchases” at Hawaii businesses using the senior citizen’s credit card and check, according to an affidavit written by a Honolulu police detective working as a task force officer with Homeland Security Investigations. A driver’s license belonging to a California woman in her 30s and the name of an Arizona woman in her 20s visiting Hawaii in 2023.

Investigators became aware of the scheme when a credit card company contacted the man’s caregiver and her daughter about possible fraud.

The spa owner told police that Montez and Tauala showed up for an appointment on Feb. 13 made by a spa patron. Montez gave the spa staff the name of the Arizona woman and told them she had stage four cancer and that Tauala was his wife.

The Arizona woman later told investigators that after returning home from Hawaii in 2023, she discovered her identity had been used to apply for a loan at a jeweler.

The 12-page criminal complaint lists a series of purchases made with the man’s credit card and check.

On February 13, two women allegedly purchased $1,725 ​​worth of services and attempted to pay by credit card. When the card didn’t work, Montez successfully manually entered his credit card number into a terminal at the spa’s cash register.

Montez allegedly used the same method to purchase $662 worth of services on Feb. 14 and returned on March 9 to purchase $1,359 worth of spa gift cards.

On Feb. 18, a car dealer told police he arranged a test drive for Tauala, whom he described as Montez’s girlfriend. Tauala test drove the car and said he wanted to buy it. Montez tried using Apple Pay for the $6,150 down payment and financed the remaining $21,439. When the transaction failed, Montez used the victim’s credit card number again by manually entering it into a sales terminal.

Montez allegedly used the same method to purchase $1,529 worth of sports memorabilia on March 13, then returned on March 14 and March 19 to purchase $4,435 worth of items from the sports memorabilia business.

A few days earlier, on March 10, Montez allegedly used the man’s credit card number to purchase three gold rope chains and a gold necklace for $5,145.