$1.9 Million In Mining Equipment Stolen in Russia

In Irkutsk Oblast, the crypto-mining capital of Russia, police recently started investigating a case, the theft of 100 Million Rubles worth of mining equipment. 

More than 100 people have been affected by this theft, in a "Mining Hotel" where the owners of the mining equipment decided to leave their equipment in charge of the operators of the place, who offered their running, storage, and maintenance services at a lower cost than the current market rate. However, after a while, they stopped sending payments to their customers, and when they asked for their equipment back, they did not get a response. Moreover, customers did not know the location of their equipment, nor did they have access to the mined coins.

The police have opened an investigation under article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (large-scale fraud). Seizing several documents and electronic equipment with evidence on the site to help solve the case.

The Irkutsk region has the lowest energy costs in the country, starting from $0.01 per kWh in rural areas, making it a very attractive target for those who want to profit from mining.

For some time now, energy service providers have seen a large increase in the use of electricity in residential areas, which they see as an increase in home mining. In addition, aircraft arriving in early 2021 from China with second-hand mining equipment have continued to come to the region.

Because of all this, Irkutsk has been named the Russian capital of crypto mining, and cases like this have begun to be seen.