PUTRAJAYA, March 1 ― The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) today announced its raid on a bitcoin mining syndicate that has hundreds of dens spread across the peninsula.

The raid, a joint operation with national power provider Tenaga Nasional (TNB) called Ops Power, shut down 20 of the 998 premises operated by the syndicate and 18 people arrested. Enforcers also confiscated RM281,180 worth of cash.

"Their modus operandi is simple. They would try to bribe TNB technicians during their routine checks to turn a blind eye to power theft for bitcoin mining purposes.

"They would either offer a monthly cash payment or through cryptocurrency,” MACC chief Tan Sri Azam Baki told a news conference here this afternoon.

He said investigations so far showed that the network offered between RM3,000 and RM300,000 to the technicians to keep silent about the mining ops, adding that a total of RM2.4 million had been given out across the 998 bitcoin mines.

Azam said TNB’s losses since 2018 from bitcoin miners amounted to near RM2.3 billion from 7,209 reported cases.

He added that following the raids, assets worth a total of RM4,476,814.93 from 126 bank accounts belonging to 97 people and 29 companies have been frozen.

Among the other things confiscated by the MACC were 1,157 graphics processing units valued at RM2.3 million in total, RM82,000 in e-wallets and US$25,893.46 in cryptocurrency used by the syndicate.

Azam said five cars were also impounded, listing their marques as a BMW, Honda Accord, Vellfire, Ford Ranger and an Audi.