News UK Police Surprised Electricity Thieves Were Mining Crypto, not Growing Weed

edwpang

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Dec 10, 2001
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I am wondering if the systems need to talk to each other or the outside world. I understand they don't need keyboard, mouse and display for mining, but it looks like they are not even connected to network.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I am wondering if the systems need to talk to each other or the outside world. I understand they don't need keyboard, mouse and display for mining, but it looks like they are not even connected to network.
Electricity consumption and heat.

If the elec company sees a particular residence and account all of a sudden using 3x the power, that gets flagged.
Routinely, the police might ask the elec company about sudden excess use.

Excess heat is readily identifiable from outside, with an IR camera.

Both conditions can be indicative of a grow op or mining farm.
 

King_V

Illustrious
Ambassador
What a world we live in, where it's crypto instead of weed.

My reaction:
cheech-marin.jpg
 

GenericUser

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Nov 20, 2010
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I recall a few years ago, a guy was renting an office that had utilities included. Only got caught because he used LED fans to exhaust out the window and the landlord noticed.

I remember reading the same thing. Wasn't that very story featured here a while ago? Seems like it was a bit older than a few years ago though.
 

Chung Leong

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Dec 6, 2019
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People eager to profit off criminal activities, strangely enough, aren't above committing crimes themselves. Stealing electricity isn't much from a moral standpoint once you've started aiding child pornographers.