American wireless carrier Verizon today said it faced more than 12 incidents of copper cable theft in San Bernardino and Riverside counties recently.

To tackle the theft issue, Verizon is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the individuals responsible for the thefts of copper communications cables in Southern California. Verizon said the thefts have caused telephone and Internet service outages in select regions.

Verizon has already lost more than 10,000 feet of copper cable and hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.  These crimes have forced thousands of Verizon phone customers to experience telephone and Internet service delays – up to several days in some cases.

Margaret Serjak, California region president, said: “We will not tolerate these malicious acts against our customers and our communications network.”

The company urges anyone with information about these crimes to contact Verizon Security at 1-800-997-3287, or local law enforcement authorities.

Baburajan K
[email protected]