Bitcoin Mining Robber Arrested in Malaysia

Malaysian authorities have arrested five people for the theft of 85 Bitcoin mining units. The machines were taken from a store in the city of Seremban on 29 October.

The units were valued at about $10,000. It is believed that those responsible for the theft steal machines to deploy themselves.

Five arrested for Bitcoin mining theft attack

According to a report by a local Bernama news publication, police have arrested five people suspected of committing the robbery of Bitcoin mining hardware. Four men and women aged 25 to 46 were among those arrested. According to reports, two people are from Indonesia. None of the five had previous criminal convictions.
Superintendent of Seremban Police Force Mohammad Saeed confirmed that the officers conducted separate raids between midnight to 4:30 pm local time. With the arrest, police seized two vehicles and drilling equipment believed to have been used during the robbery.

The arrested people are believed to have rented a store next to a store where Bitcoin mining equipment was being used. They reportedly drilled through a wall to access and exit with computer hardware inside.

He told the press at a conference about today's arrests. He said a businessman reported 85 stolen mining units on October 29. They said:

"The purpose of the hire was to monitor the movement of the machines, and it was believed that their purpose in stealing was to operate the machines themselves."

This is not the first time that News has reported on thieves targeting Bitcoin miners. In 2018, Icelandic authorities arrested eleven people in connection with 600 missing Bitcoin mining platforms. The local police called the organized robbery the largest in the nation's history. Similarly, eighteen Entminer S9 units in Derbyshire in the United Kingdom were stolen in the same year.

Mining platforms are much easier targets for the average offender than cryptocurrency. Hacking exchanges or personal purses require considerable technical experience. Meanwhile, computer systems can be stolen with an old-fashioned brute force. Mining platforms are also a worthy target, as they do not have to be resold so that criminals benefit from theft. Instead, they can implement them into the bitcoin network, which allows them to explode without substantial overhead of the cost of the equipment itself.