The West Midlands Police have suddenly uncovered a large cryptocurrency mining farm during an industrial raid. According to an announcement, the police initially expected to find a farm of cannabis, which is illegal in the United Kingdom.
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However, officers uncovered a cryptocurrency mining farm that was stealing"thousands of pounds worth of electricity from the mains supply."
"We heard how lots of people were visiting the unit at different times of day, lots of wiring and ventilation ducts were visible, and a police drone picked up a considerable heat source from above," the police said.
The report says all the equipment (100 computer units) was seized and inquiries with Western Power revealed the electric supply had been bypassed. Sandwell Police Sergeant, Jennifer Griffin, surprised as initially the place had all the "hallmarks of a cannabis cultivation set-up."
"My understanding is that mining for cryptocurrency is not itself illegal but clearly abstracting electricity from the mains supply to power it is," Griffin added.
In November last year, Northumbria Police issued a warning via its official Twitter account over a crypto-focused scam pretending to be PayPal's help service.
The fake PayPal's emails were circulating over the Internet in which the bad actors offered to cancel a payment to a cryptocurrency exchange that had been made via PayPal. When victims clicked a link, they had been redirected to a phishing PayPal web page, which was trying to steal credentials and credit card information.
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