Russian police say they have confiscated over 2,700 crypto mining rigs from a facility in St. Petersburg that went online in 2018.
The Russian media outlet RBC reported that the facility operators used power grid know-how to manipulate meter data.
Russian law enforcement officers break into a container housing hundreds of crypto mining rigs during a raid. (Source: Ministry of Interior/Telegram)
Irina Volk, a spokesperson for the Russian Interior Ministry, explained that “over seven years ago,” three unnamed St. Petersburg residents “signed a contract to connect a commercial property to the power grid.”
However, earlier this year, energy grid investigators began to suspect something was amiss with the property’s power consumption.
They followed up with a probe, which revealed a discrepancy between meter readings at the facility and actual usage figures.
The Interior Ministry and police joined the investigation, eventually raiding the facility. Volk released a video on the ministry’s Telegram channel, showing officers conducting the raid.
The video shows officers forcing a man to the floor inside a building. Other officers then force open a locked shipping container with a crowbar.
Inside, the container appears to be housing thousands of operational crypto mining rigs. Officers said they found several of these containers at the site.
Fans and other cooling equipment also appear to be functioning inside the container. Officers then force open the door to another building, which also houses banks of hundreds of rigs.
Russian law enforcement officers find thousands of crypto mining rigs during a raid. (Source: Ministry of Interior/Telegram)
Volk said ministry officials believe that the suspects used advanced electrical knowledge to manipulate the meter.
The meter then provided low readings to the power provider, allowing the suspects to pay for a tiny fraction of the power they had consumed.
The crypto mining “farm” operated unhindered between March 2018 and August 2025, the spokesperson confirmed.
Officers said they confiscated all of the mining rigs, in addition to two transformers and cooling equipment.
Police remanded the trio in custody and charged them with causing “property damage by deception or abuse of trust.”
Volk said the ministry is continuing its search for possible accomplices. The ministry did not reveal how much electricity they believe the suspects had stolen from the grid, nor its monetary worth or the type of coins the trio mined.
However, illegal crypto mining appears to be on the rise in Russia and Russia-controlled territories.
In mid-September, Russian police unearthed a small network of illegal mining centers in what Moscow calls the Donetsk People’s Republic.
Officials said the centers’ operators connected 25 rigs directly to the grid, bypassing meters in the process.
The network’s operators caused damages worth 14 million rubles ($170,633), officials said.
Illegal crypto mining is particularly rife in traditional Russian Bitcoin mining hotspots like the North Caucasus and Southern Siberia.
Last year, power providers in Dagestan announced they had discovered subterranean crypto mining centers, apparently built to avoid detection from energy officials.
Some illegal miners have also begun using mobile units housed in large trucks and vans to help them relocate if they learn that energy companies have become aware of their activities.
