Posted on 01/02/2019 10:47:34 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
A man with the Surname of Yang has been accused of stealing 100 million Taiwanese dollars (nearly $3.25 million) worth of electricity to mine cryptocurrencies. Yang is suspected of stealing power from 17 different stores in Northern Taiwan to fuel his mining operations.
According to local reports, a Taiwanese man has been taken into custody for allegedly more than $3 million worth of electric power to mine BTC and ETH.
Yang is accused of renting internet cafes or toy stores located on the first floor of a building, before hiring electricians to rewire the power supply to the premises in a way that would prevent the metering of power later diverted to fuel his mining operations. The internet cafes and toy stores would be located on the first floor in order to facilitate Yang establishing a mining rig on the floor above the shop once a new owner had taken over the business.
Wang Zhicheng, the deputy head of the fourth brigade of Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, stated: “The group recruited electricians who managed to break into the sealed meters in order to add in private lines to use electricity for free before that usage reaches the meters.”
China Cracks Down on Illegal Mining Operations
Taiwanese Police Arrest Miner Accused of Stealing Millions in PowerYang was reportedly discovered after Taiwan’s state-owned electricity provider, Taiwan Power Company, became aware of a faulty power supply to a doll shop and subsequently launched an investigation.
Yang is believed to have operated illegal cryptocurrency mines above 17 stores located in the municipalities of Xinbei, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu. The profits generated from Yang’s illegal mining operations are estimated to have been at least 100 million Taiwanese dollars (roughly $3.25 million).
Across the Taiwan Strait, Chinese authorities on the mainland have increasingly taken action against illegal mining operations in recent months. In September, Chinese cryptocurrency miner Xu Xinghua was fined 100,000 Chinese Yuan (roughly $14,500) for stealing electricity from a factory at Kouquan Railway during Nov. 2017 and Dec. 2017 to power 50 cryptocurrency miners that generated approximately 3.2 BTC.
In June, police in China’s Hanshan County arrested an individual for allegedly stealing 150,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. The miner told police that he had purchased the mining equipment just two months earlier and that he had failed to turn a profit at the time of the arrest.
If the guy they arrested was a miner, will he have to serve jail time or just a “time out” penalty?
So the moral of the story is,
A) Mining $3mm of coin will cost you (or someone else) $3.25mm of electricity.
B) Make sure it’s someone else’s electricity.
C) Don’t get caught.
He had A and B down.
Stay at a Campgroup?
That’s a great idea. Then move on to the next KOA for 25 bucks a night.
Mining $3mm of coin will cost you (or someone else) $3.25mm of electricity.
—
Bitcoin converts electricity into Dutch tulip bulbs.
Hehe...
my understanding is,
in most the world,
electricity is free, five finger discount
or not.
please enlighten me
Somebody forgot a Wire Nut on that 3rd Phase in the corner !
Please make out a Work Order for that.
I’m union, not my job...
LOL
Spoken like a True Union Professional...
IBEW!
;)
When I read “miner”, I thought that the article would be about someone who worked at extracting minerals, not someone who produced cryptocurrency.
kinda makes ya wonder how they traces it out
Just some advice from an electrical contractor friend. He told me of a case where the utility had a strong suspicion that electricity was being stolen from a residence. So they put a second meter up on the pole and compared the readings.
Obviously the pole meter recorded more usage, so they dug up the line to house and found the tap. The guy owned the house and this was also an electrical contractor...so he got the book thrown at him.
Awesome tag line Chode...... bitcoin miners are a dedicated bunch. One guy doing such is almost unheard of.
I heat my house with electricity. I’ll just pull out my furnace and replace it with a bitcoin scam mining machine
We had a guy off for payment take a 14ga wife off the top of the service to his panel, tried to run the whole house off that in the summer. Responded to the fire call and the Chief told us he suspected some “electric issues” before the structure collapsed. Those fire investigators are amazing, respect to them.
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