Police have charged a man in relation to a series of car thefts, bag snatches and frauds across Lake Illawarra and Wollongong.

Since May this year, detectives from Wollongong Local Area Command have been investigating a range of offences across suburbs including Corrimal, Figtree and Warrawong.

These included the theft of hand bags from elderly women and subsequent fraud offences on retail outlets. Police were also investigating the theft of around seven cars.

Around 2.15pm yesterday (Wednesday 31 July), police arrested a 42-year-old man on Porter Street in North Wollongong.

He was searched and found with implements allegedly used for breaking into cars.

The man was taken to Wollongong Police Station and charged with a range of offences including seven counts of car theft; 21 counts of larceny; seven counts of fraud; one count of robbery; eight counts of driving whilst disqualified and found counts of malicious damage.

He was been refused bail and will appear at Wollongong Local Court today.