A Wollongong man will face court next month accused of making fraudulent purchases after cutting telecommunications cables to disable EFTPOS services at a number of businesses.
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The 24-year-old was charged this week, following a police investigation into the malicious damage of telecommunications infrastructure across the Illawarra and southwest Sydney.
In April, police identified a series of incidents across the Lake Illawarra and Wollongong police districts and within the Liverpool Police Area Command.
Following an investigation by Lake Illawarra police, the man was arrested in Liverpool on Tuesday.
He was charged with 30 offences, including intentionally/recklessly destroy/damage property, tampering with a facility owned by a carrier to hinder its operation and dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
Police will allege the man cut the cabling within telecommunications infrastructure, which caused EFTPOS facilities in neighbouring commercial businesses to become immobilised.
He then made a number of fraudulent purchases while the EFTPOS services were offline, police said.
The man was refused police bail and will face Wollongong Local Court on August 20.
Police said inquiries were continuing.