The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has discovered the currently largest underground mining farm in the premises of Vinnytsiaoblenergo. Cryptocurrencies were mined on more than 5,000 devices.
According to law enforcement officers, residents of Kiev and Vinnitsa were the organizers of the illegal mining farm. An unauthorized connection to the Vinnitsaoblenergo networks was used to power the equipment, and the monthly damage from miners’ activities amounted to up to 19 million rubles.
Interestingly, for the extraction of cryptocurrencies, not ASIC miners were used, but Sony PlayStation 4 game consoles. 3800 of them were seized. Also, operatives seized more than 500 video cards, 50 system units and other devices.
It is worth noting that it is extremely difficult and inefficient to use mining consoles, therefore, with a high probability, mining was carried out only on farms with video cards. Consoles were used to support bots in various online games.
Of course, such a large mining farm could not operate without permission from the management of the energy company. Now the SBU is checking it. Previously, a criminal case was initiated under part 2 of article 188-1 (“Theft of water, electrical or thermal energy by its unauthorized use”) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
At the end of May in the Komi Republic, a case on illegal mining was sent to the court. A resident of Syktyvkar illegally used electricity in the amount of 5.5 million rubles for the extraction of cryptocurrencies.
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