Bitcoin is a kind of cryptocurrency which every user, hacker, and criminal wants to own. For this, some rightly invest funds while malicious elements go for cyrptojacking and criminals try to physically steal Bitcoin from others.
600 Bitcoin mining computers and equipment stolen in Iceland
In the latest incident, 600 Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining computers worth more than $2 million from data centers in Iceland have been stolen which according to authorities is the biggest series of thefts the country has ever witnessed.
Olafur Helgi Kjartansson, the police commissioner told The Associated Press that “This is a grand theft on a scale unseen before. Everything points to this being a highly organized crime.”
As a result, police arrested 11 people and two have been kept in custody, however, the stolen computers are nowhere to be found. It is worth noting that the computers were stolen in December 2017 and January 2018 in series five attempts but the authorities only revealed the incident now.
Authorities are also asking ISP providers and electricians to report any unusual activities when it comes to a sudden increase in electricity usage. Remember, mining cryptocurrency uses a huge amount of electricity which is easily noticeable by the issuing authority.
According to Icelandic newspaper Visir, two of the incidents took place against Advania whose CEO Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson revealed that thefts were captured on company’s security cameras.
At the time of publishing this article, the police are investigating the grand theft all over the country.
157 Bitcoin mining computers and equipment stolen in Malaysia
The second incident took place in Malaysia in which criminals stole Bitcoin mining computers and equipment worth 1 million Malaysian ringgit ($254,440) between January 17th until February 16th.
So far the police have arrested nine suspects while one is being tracked. The police chief Assistant Commissioner Megat Mohamad Aminuddin told TheMalayMailOnline that “Of the five reports, a total of 153 mining machines and power supply units (PSU) were reported stolen by the victims and a police task force was then established to address the thefts led by the district’s Criminal Investigations Department chief following the reports.”
Until now, 57 computer equipment have been recovered by the police out of which 28 were power supply unit (PSU). Moreover, the arrested suspects have confessed selling the stolen equipment through social media platforms and online marketplaces.
Reportedly, thieves stole more than 40 units of the Antminer S9, a Bitcoin mining device and PSU-Bitmain power supply blocks. Like Iceland, the Malaysian grand theft was also recorded by surveillance cameras showing four people in the act.
Image credit: DepositPhotos
