Costing R$ 750,000, Brazilian police dismantled four criminal cryptocurrency mining facilities that appear to have stolen electricity. They also discovered that the São Francisco River had been siphoned off water.
The Brazilian government initiated a significant crackdown on unlawful cryptocurrency businesses. On Friday, four underground mine farms in Porto Real do Colégio were closed by the Alagoas Civil Police.
According to policia intangram account, the operation was headed by the Directorate of police intelligence, with the Special Resources coordination providing tactical assistance during the raid.
Several high-performance mining rigs were captured by the officers at the sites. The equipment handled blockchain transactions across networks.
As explained by police director Thales Araaujo, cryptocurrency mining is legal in Brazil. These functions, however, were only dependent on stolen electricity.
According to Araujo, they were powered by illicit connections where they were found. The farms had entered the power lines without authorization.
The stolen energy led to large-scale power outages in the region. Regularly, appliances in the surrounding houses were damaged because of voltage variations.
Technical tests indicated an impressive consumption of 200,000 kWh per month, which was equivalent to 1,000 households that used power together.
Electricity theft led to a financial loss of R$155,000 monthly and R$750,000 in five months of operation.
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Researchers discovered a complex system of infrastructure that facilitated unceasing mining. The fraudsters tapped into the São Francisco River to steal water to cool the apparatus.
The cooling system helped to avoid overheating of processors during 24/7 operations; mining equipment requires unremitting temperature control to perform at its best.
Local people were direct victims of the illegal farms. Electrical power intermittently stopped in the surrounding areas due to power spikes.
Law enforcement agencies are also examining confiscated parts in order to determine equipment provenance. The inquiry is focused on those people who created the technical network.
Two theft-energy mining operations were also closed by police forces in the Federal District last week. Such synchronized activities demonstrate the increased crackdown on illegal crypto mining in the country.
The hardware confiscation caused the organizers immense financial losses. The processing units are very valuable in global markets.
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