Hardware Worth $1.9 Million Stolen in Russia’s Crypto Mining Capital – The alleged theft of mining equipment with a $1.9 million market value is being investigated by Russian law enforcement. A crypto mining hotel in Irkutsk, whose owners have been charged with significant fraud, had powerful computing equipment disappear.
According to Tass news agency, which cited the region’s Main Directorate of the Interior Ministry, police in the Russian Irkutsk Oblast have started an investigation into the proprietors of a mining hosting facility suspected of defrauding customers and stealing their expensive coin minting hardware.
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According to law enforcement officials, the miners gave their equipment to those in charge of the mining hotel in the hope of making quick money. The latter eventually stopped making any payments to their clients and didn’t give back the expensive machines.
According to section 4 of article 159 of the Russian Federation’s Criminal Code, a criminal case was started based on these facts (large scale fraud). Their office was raided for a variety of tangible evidence, including computer hardware and paperwork, according to a statement.
The investigators were able to prove that the accused tricked individuals into installing their coin-mining equipment in a mining hotel between November 2021 and May 2022. Rent and electricity were provided at a significant discount to the going market rate.
Meanwhile, citing a lack of available rental space, they pressed the miners to promptly turn over their equipment. Only employees of the hosting company had access to the produced currencies, and the location of the mining rig owners’ equipment was kept a secret.
The fraudsters are currently being sought by Russian police. A hundred or so people have lost something as a result of their conduct. They gave mining hotel organizers with equipment estimated to be worth a total of 100 million rubles, or roughly $1.9 million.
Irkutsk has seen a rise in cryptocurrency mining, with farms frequently installed in basements and garages and powered by subsidized household electricity. The region offers some of the lowest electricity rates in the country, with rural areas starting at just $0.01 per kWh.
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The region has earned the name “Russia’s mining capital” largely due to this. Local electricity providers complained earlier this year about a spike in residential power consumption that was attributed to home mining.
According to Russian media sources, planes carrying used mining equipment from China, which began cracking down on the sector in May 2021, have continued to land in the area this year even as the number of theft cases involving mining equipment has increased. Russia intends to make cryptocurrency mining legal so that it can take advantage of its plentiful energy resources and mild environment.
