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posted by
janrinok
on Thursday September 22 2016, @10:42PM
from the we'll-get-you-for-something dept.
from the we'll-get-you-for-something dept.
At phys.org:
Prosecutors in the Netherlands are seeking prison sentences for two brothers who they say used stolen electricity to power computers they used to mine bitcoins worth an estimated 200,000 euros ($223,500).
Prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday that powerful computers used to "mine" the electronic currency were found in a building in the port city of Rotterdam that belonged to one of the brothers and also was used as a cannabis nursery.
Equipment in the nursery and the computers were running on illegally tapped electricity when they were discovered in 2014.
Also at AP.org.
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Dutch Brothers in Court for Bitcoin Mining With Stolen Power
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(Score: 2, Disagree) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday September 22 2016, @11:19PM
Residential electric meters measure the product of voltage and current. If you wire in a large inductor or capacitor, you will phase-shift the AC, thereby drawing lots of current when the voltage is low. You're still really using lots of power but the meter won't measure it; a fancier meter would be required.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 22 2016, @11:23PM
If only you were still a teenager, you could write about your discovery of these obvious facts in a news submission.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2016, @12:09AM
Tron boxing is bunk.
http://everything2.com/title/The+Tron+Box [everything2.com]
http://www.bombshock.com/old-forums-archive/oldforums-computers/tron-box.html [bombshock.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Friday September 23 2016, @12:11AM
The problem with this is while the apparent power looks high, the work is only done by the real power which is lower. The lagging or leading current is never in phase with the voltage which decreases the available amount of "work" able to be exerted.
If you want to steal power the right way, get it before the meter or disable the meter. I did some work for a friend who owned a bar. I went into the basement of the building which also had two apartments above the bar. Each had a small panel box with main breaker hooked to individual meter pans. The meter pans were fed from a trough with the feeder from the street which interestingly had no seals from the utility company to prevent tampering. I could have tapped right into the feeder and no one would be the wiser. Of course I didn't.
And another tip from my electrician teacher in high school shop class:
He stole power by rewiring his meter after using a trick to open the pan without breaking the tamper seal (he would never tell us how to do that no matter how hard we asked). Many older meters in the USA are of the five jaw variety. Meaning there were a pair of power poles for each of the two hot legs of a split phase or open wye system for current and a fifth neutral for the meter's voltage coils. If you opened the neutral, no current could flow through the meters voltage coils stopping the meter. So he wired a timer between the neutral and over the course of a year, lowered his power bill to $30/month. He did this for years.
Though, if you lower too fast, a red flag is raised and they come out and inspect. That's how he was caught when the timer burnt out for two months without his knowledge. He was home, lights go off and he looks outside and sees a utility truck parked outside. He knew what was happening and thinking fast, runs outside screaming at the two workers "What the fuck are you two doing! My wife was carrying laundry and fell down the stairs when the lights went out. She broke her leg you assholes! I'm calling the cops and I'm going to sue your asses!" The workers jammed the meter back in and ran. He quickly disconnected his cheater line and closed the meter back up. They came back in a few days with an official inspector, crew and legal letter. They inspected his meter pan thoroughly and replaced his meter with an electronic smart meter and took the old meter back for testing. They couldn't find anything on him but he said the new meter was impossible to fool as it has day/night sensors ans well as only four jaws as the voltage coils were 240V (or 208v in the case of open wye). They knew he was stealing as I'm sure his next utility bill was significantly higher but with a pristine meter and no evidence, they never bothered him again.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2016, @12:27AM
Your high school teacher sounds like a real asshole. Stealing for years, bragging to his students, lying about it when he got caught, fabricating a story about his wife's injury, manipulating the evidence of tampering.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Friday September 23 2016, @12:59AM
He was actually *the best* teachers I have ever had. He could control a classroom full of rowdy teenagers, most of whom were from the surrounding ghetto, with ease. His numerous stories, teaching methods, and knowledge made him an exemplary teacher. Yea, he was a bastard, little NYC Italian guy so you get the drift. But shit, I came out of that shop with more knowledge than any of the so called technical students who were considered much more prestigious. My friend was in the computer engineering program and every time we spoke of the programs he told me how he wished he took that shop instead of the engineering class. The greatest achievement was when he got the school to move a dormant $250k mini robotics production system from Eshed-Robotech to our senior year shop class and put me in charge of it. That was a hell of a fun senior year, programming various robots, two mini CNC centers, one turning, the other milling, along with a smart conveyor with pallets. We did everything from bell and phone wiring to industrial motor control, PLC's and electronics in that class.
Even though I never became an electrician professionally, I retained that knowledge along with his emphasis on NEC code learning to do all of my own electrical work. Ever time I do my own work, I do it neat, to code and never take shortcuts. I rewired my grandmothers house top to bottom and even pulled the old panel box, LIVE, my self. This weekend I'm rewiring my great aunts two family to split the power with a sub meter. And I have that little asshole to thank.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 23 2016, @04:57AM
I know I have been reading Slashdot too much over the years. I remember when you posted this there.. 5... 10 years ago? I love the story and I recall it whenever I look at a meter.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Friday September 23 2016, @04:38PM
Ha! I forgot I posted that there. Glad I passed along the knowledge.