Polish Police Discover BTC-Mining Operation Inside Own Department

According to local reports, a Polish police department found a crypto-mining racket inside its own police station. 

A Polish BTC-mining ring took the idea of hiding in plain sight to a new level when it was discovered to be operating within police headquarters. Warsaw police said that the operation was discovered “quite quickly” and that the employee had been fired and charges are being brought against them. According to local news outlet Gazeta Wyborcza, the person at the center of this scandal is not a police officer but rather, a civilian working in the IT department of the police station. The local report also adds that the news was revealed via the TVN24 portal, which “cites unofficial information confirmed in two sources.” The portal revealed that an IT worker at the station was found to be stealing electricity from the station to mine crypto. No actual connection was made to the police network the department claims. 

Speaking on behalf of the General Police Headquarters (KGP), Press spokesman of the Police Commander in Chief Mariusz Ciarka confirmed the employee was fired and “the device he used was not connected to any database, and the case largely concerns the theft of electricity, which is consumed by the so-called” cryptocurrency mining.” Inspector Ciarka also stated that the case was being handed over to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw. Investigators will be looking into whether or not the IT worker was acting alone and are prepared to fire a suspected accomplice. 

Municipalities cracking down on illegal mining

Cryptocurrency mining is a lucrative endeavor, but one that is regulated in most places around the globe. This has led to numerous stories lately of illegal mining operations being uncovered and broken up. Last week, Malaysian authorities discovered one such illegal mine that was had illegally hooked up more than 1,000 rigs illegally to the electricity grid. The operation sucked so much power that the power company, Sarawak Energy Berhad, lost around $2 million. Authorities took a unique approach and actually steamrolled the 1,069 rigs seized, said to be work more than $1 million. 

Similarly, In July, officials in Ukraine seized more than 5,000 mining machines from an illegal farm in Vinnytsia. The setup was rather unique as it utilized nearly 4,000 PS4 game consoles to power it mine. The miners disguised themselves as a regular warehouse and stole electricity from the Ukrainian power grid, leaving entire areas without power at times. In a bit of a twist, it was uncovered later that the mine was not actually used for cryptocurrency, but rather to mine FIFA Ultimate team cards to be sold on the black market. 

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