The former head of the Russian Post branch in the southern city of Mineralnye Vody was suspected of illegal cryptocurrency mining using working equipment. The damage caused is estimated at 30,000 rubles ($400).

A criminal case has been opened against the former head of the Russian Post branch in the southern city of Mineralnye Vody for illegal use of electricity in the workplace. The suspect allegedly used corporative equipment and Internet for cryptocurrency mining. This was reported by the SU Investigative Committee of Russia (TFR) in the Stavropol Territory.

“According to the investigation, since September 2019, the suspect installed and illegally connected computer equipment for cryptocurrency mining to the power network of the branch of JSC Russian Post. After that, for six months he used this equipment,” the report said.

Damage from illegal actions and illegal use of corporative electricity and Internet is estimated at more than 30,000 rubles ($400). It is still unclear what cryptocurrency the suspect was mining and how many coins he managed to mine. Now he faces charges on abuse of power.

In 2018, employees of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center (RFNC-VNIIEF, Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod Region) were detained while trying to mine bitcoins in the workplace.

In May 2020, ZDNet reported that hackers infected supercomputers in several European countries with malware that mines Monero. According to the report, supercomputers in the UK, Germany, Switzerland and, possibly, Spain fell victims to that hacking attack. Many infected supercomputers that were forced to shut down operations were included in researches of vaccines from COVID-19.