Hong Kong Workers Exposed After Using Electricity From Care Homes to Mine Bitcoin

• Two Hong Kong technicians secretly installed eight Bitcoin mining machines above the ceilings of two care home offices in Sham Shui Po and Kwun Tong.
• According to the investigations, the miners took advantage of a facility upgrade in August to connect the devices to the homes’ systems. And they are potentially faced with a five-year sentence to prison for unauthorized electricity use.

Bitcoin mining, although profitable to miners and the blockchain in general, has over the years come with so many cons that have in some way or the other caused harm to individuals and society at large. Some of the major cons are pollution that came as a result of high energy consumption.

A few hours ago, there was a report of a Hong Kong-based care home electricity bill skyrocketing, raising security alarms, and later on, when the case was properly looked into, it was discovered that two technicians were responsible for using the electricity and internet to mine Bitcoin.

How They Managed to Set Up The Bitcoin Mining System

According to the details shared by a local newspaper, the men were aged 32 and 33, and they managed to place eight machines above the organization’s suspended ceilings in two different offices, five in Sham Shui Po and three in Kwun Tong.

The device worked 24 hours around the clock, consuming a lot of energy and slowing down the network. At first, the staff of the organization noticed the problem when the internet started to slow down and utilities prices rose up, and they had to raise an alarm.

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An inspector from the Sham Shui Po police unit, Ng Tsz-wing, explained that the engineering firm employees used an upgrade project in August as a way to cover their tracks. During the work, they connected their devices to the homes’ power and network lines, and then they started mining. The two culprits were both long-term workers at the company and were arrested in Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po.

The police believe that this case was carried out by the pair alone and is not tied to any other larger group. So far, the authorities have not revealed the names of the care homes, but Under the Hong Kong law, using electricity without permission can result in up to five years in prison.

Inspector Ng advised the public to stay alert during repair or upgrade works and to monitor bills and network usage for situations like this and also report any unusual changes.

Francis Fong Po-kiu, from the Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, added that mining requires heavy energy use; according to the delays, he likened mining to running an air conditioner all day. He noted that some people are willing to break the laws in order to avoid the high cost of producing.

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