A man has been charged following an investigation into a grocery refund scam in the Illawarra region.
Earlier this year (27 May 2019) a 34-year-old man allegedly attended supermarkets in Shellharbour, Dapto, Warrawong, Wollongong and Oatley, and returned bags of coffee and nicotine replacement gum for the purposes of fraudulently obtaining a cash refund.
Police allege the man stole more than 500 bags of coffee, nicotine replacement gum and other items to facilitate the fraudulent transactions.
The transactions and thefts amounted to a loss of more than $44,000 for the targeted grocery stores.
The matter was reported to Lake Illawarra Police District and an investigation commenced under the Anti-Theft and Tech Crime Unit.
Yesterday (Wednesday 20 November 2019), the man was charged with 53 counts of dishonestly obtain property by deception and larceny and issued a Future Court Attendance Notice.
The man was granted conditional bail and is due to face Port Kembla Local Court on 15 January 2020.
