A former school facilities aide in Cohasset, Massachusetts, is accused of conducting cryptocurrency mining operations inside a crawl space at Cohasset High School.Cohasset Police Department Nadeam Nahas allegedly stole approximately $18,000 in power to run a cryptocurrency mining scheme.
Former Cohasset School Employee Faces Charges for Crypto Mining Electrical Theft in School Overhead
Areportpublished by the WCVB Network in Boston alleges that Nadeam Nahas, a former school employee in Cohasset, Massachusetts, stole electricity from the district to mine cryptocurrency Nahas stole electricity from multiple computers, a ventilation systems, and is accused of setting up operations in the basement of Cohasset High School, where connected wiring was found.
Photographs taken by Cohasset police show that the mining device appears to be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining rig, possibly used for bitcoin mining. Police allege that Nahas had been secretly mining cryptocurrency on the school campus for eight months, and the town’s IT director discovered that the operation was a crypto mine.
Investigators, Cohasset police, and members of the Department of Homeland Security became involved in the case and removed the miners from the high school crawl space. The investigation lasted three months and investigators estimated that approximately $17,492 in electricity was stolen.
Nahas is one of many individuals accused of stealing electricity to power cryptocurrency mining operations over the years. For example, in 2021, Malaysia seized 1,720 bitcoin mining machines during a crackdown on electricity theft.
Malaysian law enforcement revealed last year that it had arrested more than 600 people for stealing electricity to mine cryptocurrency over the past two years; in 2020, a Chinese kennel owner was arrested for stealing electricity to run a bitcoin mining farm The case was.
In Rotterdam, Netherlands, two brothers were arrested in 2016 for stealing power to mine bitcoin and grow marijuana; WCVB reporter William Bennett reported that Nahas was charged with school destruction and misuse of electrical resources.
Nahas is scheduled to appear in Quincy District Court for arraignment on February 23, 2023; according to Bennett, when contacted by phone, the accused former Cohasset school official declined to comment on the case.
What do you think about the former school employee accused of stealing electricity to mine cryptocurrency in the basement of Cohasset High School? Share your thoughts on this matter in the comments section below.
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