German police arrests woman among six over electricity theft

Klingenthal police from the eastern German state of Saxony has made a major arrest over electricity theft for a crypto mining farming facility, a local news website revealed.

The reports have revealed that as many as forty-nine (49) mining rig computers were installed at the mining farm and hidden behind the name of an electrical service provider dubbed PGH Elektro. The said company is now defunct, however, the miners were using its former office to hide their base of operations.

The mining farm has been running from the office since 2017 and consuming energy that is enough to power thirty medium-sized households in the area. The damage from the electricity theft during this time has been estimated to be two hundred and twenty thousand euros or two hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).

The computers installed at the facility were equipped with graphics processors used for cryptocurrency mining, and six culprits were arrested from the premise along with the computers. Although only thirty of the forty-nine computers were being used for crypto mining, police did not comment on whether the other computers were used for any other illegal activity.

Electricity theft for crypto mining is becoming a menace across the globe and reports of such thefts have been received from Ukraine, China, Thailand, United Kingdom and Australia among various other countries.