Stolen Electricity is Powering Illegal Crypto Farms Across the Globe

Electricity theft is a global problem, and it’s getting more dire all the time. While the problem is most common in developing countries, where grid infrastructure is limited and utilities and state authorities have lower oversight capacities, developed countries are not immune either. This theft can occur in many forms and at many scales, from individuals tapping into power lines to power their individual residences to large-scale and sophisticated theft schemes to power entire cryptocurrency mining farms.

Just this week, Mexican authorities busted a clandestine operation in rural Puebla, where 300 computers were using stolen electricity to mine cryptocurrency around the clock. The operation was siphoning electricity from a federal hydroelectric complex, and could be connected to a larger money laundering operation.

“This activity consumes a great deal of energy and generates a lot of noise, which is why operators seek out isolated and very remote locations. That is what alerted us,” Francisco Sánchez, head of Puebla’s Public Security Secretariat, recently told reporters. “We had been tracking reports that this activity was taking place in that part of the state, particularly because of its proximity to the [Nuevo Necaxa] dam. There was a very large power connection.”