A recent report revealed that a 34-year-old man stole a crypto mining rig but is unaware of what it is. Eventually, the Russian law enforcement agency caught up with him and convicted him of theft of equipment worth 1.6 million rubles (approximately 22,000 USD).
The Case Brief
The prosecutor office in the Yaroslavl Region reported the corroboration of the accused by the State prosecutor back in February 2021, who entered his friend’s garage unlawfully. As a result, he left with the mining equipment of his friend meant for crypto acquisition.
After a thorough investigation, the Russian man was declared guilty of the charges by the authorities. The title of the report is Illegal entry and property theft.
Based on the court proceedings, the convicted man accepted the charges and returned the equipment he stole voluntarily to the owner. In addition, confession in the court contained the frustration that comes with using it as he doesn’t have a working knowledge of the rig.
From the court investigations, the man has been convicted of an offence earlier, and he is on 3-year probation as the case was dismissed from the court. The conviction earlier attracted no jail term as long as full compliance with the probation terms is ensured.
The Russian Law Enforcement Monitoring Systems
On the 4th of August, the Russian authorities announced the launching of systems that analyze and monitor transactions affiliated to BTC. The duty of the RFFMS (Russian Federal Financial Monitoring Service) is to fight money laundering and terrorism financing. This is what led to the development of analytics tools that use artificial intelligence to track crypto transactions.
The authorities named the system “Transparent Blockchain”, as its work is to keep track of the movements of digital assets in the country. The system also recognizes all the crypto service providers in the country. A local news outlet, RBC, reported on the 10th of August that the system aims to fight illicit activities related to virtual assets.
In the report, the Russian FFMS employed the service of the RCO to get the job done. RCO is a firm backed indirectly by Sber – formerly known as Sberbank.
In the past, the government had created a system that reduces anonymity in the crypto space intending to track illicit activities in the country.
