Crypto miners stole B500,000 a month in electricity

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Computers and related equipment worth 5 million baht seized from two homes in Samut Prakan

Computers, routers, servers and other hardware seized for crypto mining are seen following a raid on two homes in Samut Prakan on Thursday. (Photo: Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)

SAMUT PRAKAN: Authorities have seized cryptocurrency mining equipment worth over 5 million baht from two homes in Samut Prakan where electricity theft exceeded 500,000 baht per month.

Police did not say whether people were arrested at the two locations that were searched.

Police and officials from the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) searched the two houses in Muang district on Friday afternoon after the MEA confirmed unusual electricity usage.

Two MEA-licensed electricians – Chakkrit Phoonsawat, 30, and Yothin Termphol, 30 – had filed a complaint the day before with Muang district police against the tenants of the two houses for allegedly stealing electricity.

The first raid took place at a house in Tambon Bang Muang. Police seized 60 mining rigs worth about 3 million baht from the house, which allegedly stole electricity worth 300,000 baht per month.

In the second raid, at a house in Soi Sap Boonchai 28 in the same tambon, 20 mining rigs and computers worth around 2 million baht were seized. Tenants of the house stole electricity for around 200,000 baht a month, police said.

Cryptocurrency mining is an extremely power-intensive activity as the billions of calculations involved require huge amounts of computing power. Mining a single bitcoin would require 150,000 units (kilowatt-hours) of electricity.

Two electricians inspect equipment used for cryptocurrency mining following a raid on two homes in Samut Prakan. (Photo: Sutthiwit Chayutworakan)

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