Cryptocurrency miners hidden under the floor. Fraudsters took advantage of the courthouse
Illegal cryptocurrency miners were discovered in the building of the Supreme Administrative Court. Hidden devices worked non-stop to mine digital currencies without the knowledge of the building’s owners.
Fraudsters have interesting ideas for making money on cryptocurrencies. Illegal equipment producing digital tokens was discovered at the headquarters of the Supreme Administrative Court – right under the noses of law enforcement officers. An investigation has already started into the case.
Cryptocurrency miners at the NSA – the equipment was hidden
Computers used to mine digital currencies were discovered at the NSA at the turn of August and September, TVN Warszawa reports. The machines were carefully hidden, including: in ventilation ducts on the top floor of the building and in the technical floor.
Cryptocurrency mining requires a lot of energy, so stealing electricity is a popular ploy of criminals. The virtual cryptocurrency mining equipment used the building’s electricity, significantly increasing energy consumption. He was eventually found by one of the technicians.
Following the discovery, the court terminated the contract with the company responsible for technical service in the NSA building, and the case was also referred to law enforcement agencies.
“The fact of installing the devices among the court’s technical infrastructure was notified by the Supreme Administrative Court to police officers who took appropriate actions in the case, including dismantling and securing the disclosed electronic equipment,” said Judge Sylwester Marciniak, chairman of the Judicial Information Department of the Supreme Administrative Court.
How are cryptocurrencies mined?
As we wrote in Wprost.pl, cryptocurrencies are created in the process of complex calculation cycles that are carried out on specially adapted computers, or rather, a series of graphics cards connected into one computing machine.
This process is commonly called “cryptocurrency mining”. The problem with bitcoin mines is that due to the amount of equipment and its maximum utilization, they consume huge amounts of energy.
Already in 2019, mining the most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin in Poland became unprofitable, mainly due to rising electricity prices.
