TNB lose RM400,000 a month due to Bitcoin theft

Members of the TNB East Zone Special Loss Prevention Unit cut the power cord used by the bitcoin syndicate premises during Operation Bitcoin last week - Photo courtesy of TNB Pahang

KUANTAN - 19 premises believed to be carrying out bitcoin currency mining activities in this district were detected to have illegally connected electricity without metering in Bitcoin Operations last week.

Head of Service Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) Pahang, Rozianis Mohd Noor, said the syndicate's actions caused TNB Pahang to lose more than RM400,000 a month.

According to her, the premises were found to be using approximately one million kilowatts (kw) of illegal electricity a month following the use of a 24-hour high-power computer network.

She said they believed the connection to the electricity supply was done by professional individuals.

"The results showed that large size cables were used to allow higher power consumption".

"This act is wrong because it can cause a short circuit. Previously, there have been several cases of bitcoin premises in the district burning due to a short circuit and continuous use of excessive electricity for 24 hours," she said in a statement today.

The integrated Bitcoin operation last week was joined by the Energy Commission (Suruhanjaya Tenaga) and Kuantan Municipal Council (Majlis Perbandaran Kuantan) which acted to seize various equipment including computers.

Rozianis said, based on the records of the TNB East Zone's Special Loss Prevention Unit, most of the premises had been raided before.

"However they did not regret their actions and are back in operation illegally," she said.

She stressed that last year TNB Pahang incurred a loss of RM3.2 million due to illegal electricity connection by bitcoin currency mining syndicate.