Crypto miners are stealing power in Southeast Asia

5 hours ago

Cryptocurrency mining in Southeast Asia is increasingly linked to electricity theft and organized crime.
In Malaysia, a raid in Johor uncovered 71 mining machines running illegally, causing estimated losses of €14,500 in one month.
Between 2020 and 2025, Malaysian utility TNB identified nearly 14,000 premises involved in crypto-related electricity theft, with cumulative losses of about €1.1 billion.
Thailand dismantled three major illegal mining networks in 2025, seizing over 6,390 machines and costing the electricity authority more than €24.9 million.
Indonesia also faces similar issues, with police raiding sites and seizing over 1,100 Bitcoin mining machines in North Sumatra in 2023.
Governments are responding with raids, stricter penalties, and enhanced cooperation, but enforcement is difficult due to equipment mobility and organized networks.
Laos ended electricity supplies to legal crypto miners, as the industry failed to create jobs or economic benefits, despite initial plans to use surplus hydropower.
Experts recommend transformer-level monitoring, licensing, and tracing of financial transactions to ensure miners pay full electricity costs.

HiAnime, a major anime piracy site with over 150 million monthly visits, shut down unexpectedly in March.
Vietnamese authorities arrested seven suspects linked to a piracy ring operating over 100 sites, including HiAnime, charging them with copyright infringement and money laundering.
The group operated from 2020 to April 2026, offering 26,000 unlicensed titles and generating about $12.8 million from advertising revenue.

Police seized control of an encrypted phone network used by alleged gangsters for drug deals, kidnappings, and murders.
The VIP Network sold custom-encrypted devices for $2000 each, generating around $2 million annually, targeting Sydney's underworld.
Three brothers were arrested and charged with crimes related to the encrypted devices, which were linked to violent gang feuds.

The scam industry in Myanmar is expanding and moving deeper into jungle areas, with new compounds under construction despite crackdowns.
Shunda Park, a major compound, held about 3,000 trafficked workers who faced brutal punishments for failing to meet scam targets.
Large centres like KK Park and Shwe Kokko were raided, but the industry is decentralizing into smaller, mobile 'Scamming 2.0' and '3.0' operations.

North Korea's state-trained hackers, known for stealing from foreign banks and funding weapons programs, are now accused of robbing their own government's banks.
A hacking ring was arrested on July 12 by North Korea's National Intelligence Agency for a scheme to steal from the Chosun Central Bank and Foreign Trade Bank.
The ringleaders are reportedly discharged veterans from a cyber operations unit under the Reconnaissance and Intelligence General Bureau, linked to the Lazarus Group.

DPRK IT workers use a payment remittance platform called luckyguys[.]site to report earnings to handlers, with minimal internal security like a default password.
Payments are verified by an administrator account (PC-1234) and follow a pattern of crypto or fiat conversion, often through Chinese channels.
Funds are consolidated upward to wallets like the 'RB wallet' (linked to sanctioned Ryongbong General Corporation) and ultimately to entities like Unit 1020 and Command 710.

HiAnime, a major anime piracy site with over 150 million monthly visits, shut down unexpectedly in March.
Vietnamese authorities arrested seven suspects linked to a piracy ring operating over 100 sites, including HiAnime, charging them with copyright infringement and money laundering.
The group operated from 2020 to April 2026, offering 26,000 unlicensed titles and generating about $12.8 million from advertising revenue.

Police seized control of an encrypted phone network used by alleged gangsters for drug deals, kidnappings, and murders.
The VIP Network sold custom-encrypted devices for $2000 each, generating around $2 million annually, targeting Sydney's underworld.
Three brothers were arrested and charged with crimes related to the encrypted devices, which were linked to violent gang feuds.

The scam industry in Myanmar is expanding and moving deeper into jungle areas, with new compounds under construction despite crackdowns.
Shunda Park, a major compound, held about 3,000 trafficked workers who faced brutal punishments for failing to meet scam targets.
Large centres like KK Park and Shwe Kokko were raided, but the industry is decentralizing into smaller, mobile 'Scamming 2.0' and '3.0' operations.

North Korea's state-trained hackers, known for stealing from foreign banks and funding weapons programs, are now accused of robbing their own government's banks.
A hacking ring was arrested on July 12 by North Korea's National Intelligence Agency for a scheme to steal from the Chosun Central Bank and Foreign Trade Bank.
The ringleaders are reportedly discharged veterans from a cyber operations unit under the Reconnaissance and Intelligence General Bureau, linked to the Lazarus Group.

DPRK IT workers use a payment remittance platform called luckyguys[.]site to report earnings to handlers, with minimal internal security like a default password.
Payments are verified by an administrator account (PC-1234) and follow a pattern of crypto or fiat conversion, often through Chinese channels.
Funds are consolidated upward to wallets like the 'RB wallet' (linked to sanctioned Ryongbong General Corporation) and ultimately to entities like Unit 1020 and Command 710.

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