A group of digital currency miners has been arrested in Klingenthal, Germany after their illegal electricity was unearthed by the local police. According to the police, the digital currency miners were using free electricity which they accessed by tampering with the normal electrical wiring of their premises.

The digital currency miners were allegedly operating a mining farm with 49 computers in a building that was formerly being used by PGH Elektro, a company offering electrical services. The digital currency miners are estimated to have started their operations somewhere in 2017. Estimates show that the miners may have caused the electricity company a loss of at least 250 thousand U.S dollars.

According to a German news outlet, Freie Presse:

Among the 49 computers found in Klingenthal, 30 were equipped with special hardware for the extraction of cryptocurrencies. 80 graphics cards were installed in the system.

The group of digital currency miners arrested comprised of five men and one woman. The raid was jointly carried out by police officers, tax inspectors, and the mobile task force who totaled 121 people. Apart from the building being used by the miners, the police officers also searched eight other properties.

Digital currency miners stealing electricity is not something new. Towards the end of last year, a crypto miner in Taiwan was arrested after causing the electricity company to lose approximately 3 million U.S dollars after he bypassed the electricity meter to use electricity for free. The miner was estimated to have mined BTC and ETH worth 14 million U.S dollars using the illegal electricity.

In China, a BTC miner was arrested and jailed for unlawfully tapping electricity from a train station and using it to power his mining activities. In the past, other illegal crypto mining activities have involved employees of government agencies to use government resource to mine cryptocurrency.

As crypto prices continue to fall, which cheaper power sources do you think digital currency miners can tap into to power their mining rigs?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.