School Employee Found Stealing Electricity for Mining Bitcoin
WCVB, a Boston-based network, broke a story of a former employee of Cohasset High School, Massachusetts, accused of stealing electricity for minting Bitcoin.
The story claims that a man named Nadeem Nahas was once part of Cohasset High School as one of the school’s directors. Nahas has been accused of stealing electricity from the main grid for the purpose of mining Bitcoins.
He has been further accused of turning the school’s crawlspace into a Bitcoin mining facility without the knowledge and permission of Cohasset School.
It was noted that the crawlspace contained various advanced computers and laptops with which ventilation devices were also attached.
Upon noticing wires, computers, and ventilation devices, the school informed the local police and asked them to investigate.
Upon the arrival of the police, policemen sealed the school’s crawlspace, gathered evidence, and took photographs of the scene.
Evidence Collected By Police Proves Mining Activities
The photographs obtained by police showed that equipment lying in the crawlspace seemed similar to application-specific integrated circuits i.e. ASICs.
ASICs are widely known as the ‘mining rigs’ which are primarily used for extracting and minting cryptocurrencies.
It was alleged by the police that the equipment might have been used by someone for minting in particular the Bitcoin.
It was hence the police who identified that the accused is the one who was working with the school as its Director.
Police have further claimed that the illegal mining facility at Cohasset was minting cryptocurrencies for over a period of eight months.
If it is true, then this means that Nahas was stealing electricity for a very long time without anybody’s notice.
Later, it was confirmed by the local administration’s IT director that the equipment seized by police was in fact used for crypto mining.
Mining Equipment Seized By Cohasset Police
Personnel from the Cohasset Police Department, thereafter, dismantled entire equipment from the premises and seized them.
It took more than 90 days for the police to determine the expected loss caused to the exchequer by electricity theft.
According to police, the loss exceeds $17,492, and several individuals were involved in running the mining facility.
Police said that Nahas is the primary suspect, however, he had accomplices helping him carry out mining activities and stealing electricity.
Electricity Theft for Mining Not the First of Its Kind Instance
For the past several years, mainly from 2018 onwards, there have been many reported cases of mining operations run by stealing electricity.
The biggest instance of such cases was seen in Malaysia two years ago when authorities there seized approximately two thousand Bitcoin mining rigs.
The Malaysian authorities claimed that the seized machines were powered by electricity stolen from the main grids. This is what was causing problems for them in tracking down the consumption of electricity.
It had become a matter of huge concern as to what was causing a major surge in electricity consumption. Therefore, it had become necessary to investigate and establish what was causing the surges.
The investigations revealed that it was the mining operations that were causing such a problem for the electricity department in Malaysia.
During the cracking-down operations, Malaysian authorities also captured at least 600 individuals involved in such activities. This was a huge crackdown carried out by the authorities in Malaysia against the operatives.
Similar instances were also seen rising in China three years ago in 2020. Later, however, China banned mining activities and went after every miner in the country until it kicked out every single one of them.
Nahas is currently under police’s watch and is likely to face an electricity theft charge before a District Court of Quincy. His trial is due to take place on 23rd February 2023.
Meanwhile, when Nahas was contacted by the media to share details about the instance, he refused to make any comment. He seems reluctant about making any statement or claim pertaining to the matter.
