Are criminals stealing electricity to mine bitcoins yet? - page 2.

Swishercutter

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Quote from: elggawf on October 01, 2011, 05:36:27 PM

Well I have heard about abnormally high power usage in a house leading to a tip off to the cops, but it just doesn't seem like stealing juice is going to help solve that.

Besides why steal power to mine bitcoins with a few really expensive graphics cards when you can just write malware and steal power + equipment for a fraction of the effort and almost none of the risk?

To most it's easier to steal power...the majority have no programming knowledge.

elggawf

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Well I have heard about abnormally high power usage in a house leading to a tip off to the cops, but it just doesn't seem like stealing juice is going to help solve that.

Besides why steal power to mine bitcoins with a few really expensive graphics cards when you can just write malware and steal power + equipment for a fraction of the effort and almost none of the risk?

Swishercutter

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Quote from: elggawf on October 01, 2011, 05:14:43 PM

People steal electricity to grow pot? Seems to me like that's a really easy way to get caught.

Those are the only ones I ever read about getting busted due to power use. Everyone thinks you will get caught for power usage...from what I have seen the power company is more than happy to take your money as long as you are paying on time and in full. I always read in the news about these major grows >15kw that are stealing power. The power company knows how much gos into a neighborhood and how much is metered at the houses...if those numbers don't match up they think its a short in the line somewhere and send out a crew...they find you illegal power tap and report it to the police.

I guess it depends on where in the world you live also....some areas have specific regulations on reporting abnormal power usage to the local authorities.

elggawf

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People steal electricity to grow pot? Seems to me like that's a really easy way to get caught.

Swishercutter

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Quote from: johnj on October 01, 2011, 04:23:00 PM

I would imagine the maintainence required for a mining farm is far more than for a cannibis farm. Sure, growing eats up power with lamps, but its on/off (usually on an auto timer), with replacing a bulb here and there - hardly any 'intensive' upkeep. Plus most of your investments can't 'break' (soil, pots, seeds). In addition, growers don't need to worry as much about ventilation, especially in regards to cooling. Plus the yield of space/energy in growing is much more lucrative than mining.

I'd imagine if you have access to the funding, space, ventilation, and energy to do something illegal, I don't think 'mining bitcoins' is very high on the list.

edit: less->more

Wrong...I have known people who run grows...if you are not there doing work every day things come out like crap. I have not had to even look at my mining rigs in weeks...I know they are working by the heat.

There is massive intensive upkeep in grows...like pruning, insects, mold, fertilizer levels, not to mention pumps, bulbs, fans, charcoal filters, etc.

I would not get into either one expecting no work.

bitcola

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I dunno. I've never had a grow room but I've read a lot about it. You do have to monitor a lot of things and ventilation you got to take care of, primarily because otherwise the stink will be detected.

With mining rigs, the advantage is that you don't have to return to tend to it or "harvest", you can manage it all remotely. Build in some redundancy and you hardly ever have to return to swap anything out.

A well tended grow needs people coming back to change various things, otherwise the crop would taste nasty, nutrients etc. As far as I know nobody has automated this process yet.

johnj

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I would imagine the maintainence required for a mining farm is far more than for a cannibis farm. Sure, growing eats up power with lamps, but its on/off (usually on an auto timer), with replacing a bulb here and there - hardly any 'intensive' upkeep. Plus most of your investments can't 'break' (soil, pots, seeds). In addition, growers don't need to worry as much about ventilation, especially in regards to cooling. Plus the yield of space/energy in growing is much more lucrative than mining.

I'd imagine if you have access to the funding, space, ventilation, and energy to do something illegal, I don't think 'mining bitcoins' is very high on the list.

edit: less->more

bitcola

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Serious cannabis growers will steal electricity rather than pay for it.

So I'm wondering if criminal gangs have started to do this and mine bitcoins yet? I imagine that bitcoins require a larger initial capital outlay but what about the yield per square foot as it seems that apart from this capital outlay the only other limiting factor is space or maybe heat or noise.

I'm just curious as to why we haven't heard of criminal gangs moving in yet. I guess they don't need to be close to market so maybe they are already operating but in developing countries?

Topic: Are criminals stealing electricity to mine bitcoins yet? - page 2. (Read 4148 times)