Thai authorities have dismantled nine illegal bitcoin mining businesses and charged two suspects with stealing more than $280,000 worth of electricity, police said on Wednesday.
The investigation began after a resident noticed several CCTV cameras installed in an apparently empty house in the southern province of Surat Thani, said police officer Pongsak Meemusik, who led the operation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation, together with the provincial electricity department, raided the house last week and found it being used as an illegal bitcoin mining site. Two suspects, both in their 30s, were arrested on theft charges.
Mr. Pongsak told AFP that modified electricity meters were used to steal more than 10 million baht ($287,000 US) worth of electricity. Further investigation led police to discover eight other homes in the province with similar installations.
This is the fifth raid against illegal cryptocurrency mining activities in the province since the beginning of the year.
In Thailand, bitcoin miners are considered producers and must pay the appropriate taxes, while the scale of illegal operations in the sphere has been growing for years.
In August, law enforcers in Malaysia arrested seven people for mining bitcoin using stolen electricity. They were also seized property worth about $57,000. In July, the country’s authorities reported that cryptocurrency miners had stolen $725 million worth of electricity over five years.
