Bitcoin Forum

Wow!

Just got a message form the buddy of mine who got me into bitcoin saying last night he woke up to his front door being busted in by DEA and cops with a warrant to search his house on suspicion of it being a massive pot-growing operation :o :o

Apparently the first thing that triggered their suspicion was the sharp increase in electricity consumption, they then did a fly over thermal scan which picked up a higher than normal heat signature coming from his utility room.
Last time I asked he was only running 5 rigs with 3 5870's/5850's in each

Worst thing is my friend is such a quiet guy ans seems positively shocked still by all this, Even though it must have been obvious to the cops that the heat was from his rigs they still decided to search the entire place just in case they might find something for their trouble.
I'd say he was freaking out too as he looks like and is the sort of guy to smoke a little now and again so having 10 cops search every corner of your house might turn up something he didn't even know of.

Anyway I guess this is just a heads up, if your mining don't have pot or any other drugs in your house just in case.
Worst thing is he had to spend the whole night awake waiting for someone to come fix his door after the pigs fecked off and left his house in a state ::)

tl;dr:  If you mine don't keep drugs in your house

**edit**
this was in Vancouver, Check it out if you like.

I'm not coming here looking for some sort of notoriety or to say "FUCK SHIT I just had the cops come into my kick my kids and fuck my dog!!"
I'm just trying to give a warning to some people that this could happen to them too and maybe it's best not to have any actual drugs there..
**edit**

good they found none

awesome story man, totally classic ! maybe miners should start putting notices on their front door explaining the situation to the DEA b4 they break your door down...  :P

Not that I don't believe you, but can anybody definitively confirm at least one instance of this happening?

Probable urban legend. It always happens to an unidentified buddy, never to the poster.

man they totally monitor the power usage like that, if you didnt know that you know nothing...

Actually I'm just posting as he's not exactly a talker on here and only signed up recently to get out of the newbie section in case he does need to make a post.
I'll find out his name if you like

Also trust me at the moment he's not in the mood to come on here and talk about this right now.
Was just on the phone to him about it and well if I was woke from my slumber with a gun in my face I'd be a little shook up too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QkyfGJgcwQ

Someone start selling mining licenses  :D

The only thing that made both of us chuckle was the quote that the dea guys came out with about all the computers and fans in the room.
"are you like the google or something"  ;D
To which my friend said and maybe not so smartly "something like that"
I guess he just wanted them out and didn't want to start explaining bitcoin to a bunch of thugs.

Anyway maybe they got the impression he was up to something illegal all the same with so much equipment lying around as according to him his house is a mess now

I'm sorry but I call BS...  It's easy enough to prove us wrong...  post the town and state he lives in...  or if it's rural, the county and state...  That search warrant is public record, so it will be easy enough for one of us to call and confirm there was a DEA raid there.

funny


dude its totally plausible, you dont need to be a rocket scientist to see that

I don't think it is true...  easy enough to prove me wrong.  Where did it happen?

The drug enablement agency always raids the wrong houses and youre lucky if they dont shoot your pets.

Maybe Google told them?
  - http://www.sdge.com/smartmeter/googlePilot.shtml

"hey, it's plausible, so we don't need proof!"

Vancouver BC, Not sure what the DEA is officially called there but find out if you like. Be interesting to find out how they cover themselves in these sort of cock up's

Kinda suspicious. I'm not saying it's fake, I don't know. But this story has the telltale signs of an urban legend.

Happened to an anonomyus "friend" in an unknown location.
It was the DEA, not the local cops. As though the DEA has time to check out possible grow-up houses.

As mentioned, search warrants are public records. Let's see it.
 
 

As I said this was in Vancouver, Check it out if you like.

I'm not coming here looking for some sort of notoriety or to say "FUCK SHIT I just had the cops come into my kick my kids and fuck my dog!!"
I'm just trying to give a warning to some people that this could happen to them too and maybe it's best not to have any actual drugs there.

it's not story/rocket science..It's common sense that these things happen is all
Call me a liar in every post from now on if you like, I'm just trying to have a discussion on the topic as I like to smoke a little myself and now I'm thinking twice because of my 2 rigs in the same small apartment room...simples??

Ok, you seem sincere. I believe you.

this is the only forum i've ever been on where i see story after story of crazy things that happened to who?...... your friend of course...... transparency at it's best

Old news:

https://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=9786.20

Some guy says to some other guy that a 3rd guy got busted by some guys for some thing. Yawn.

On another note, a friend of mine was living with actual marijuana growers a while back. They grew marijuana under lamps in their garage. When it would get too hot in the summer they'd partially open the garage door to let some air circulate in/out of the garage.

Somehow they remained unbusted by the time he moved out heh. Another friend story, so take it as you will.

Search warrant ? If none they broke the law, he should contact a lawyer and get them busted, lol.

Fair enough I guess but I not everyone talks and I'm sure there are many lurkers on these forums
Tell you what he has some images of the mess they made and his broken door that he took to send them when he gets bills for repairs and such.
If he doesn't mind I'll send him a mail and post one or two as they knocked over two of his rigs which were on a shelf looking to see if there was anything stashed behind them

while I cannot confirm this dudes story, I can confirm that in rurual suburban areas this is how they try to track down indoor grow operations. There is also an article online somewhere about this very issue. Again, this is why this country sucks right now and we need major reform(coughronpaulcough). We are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty yet because of something as simple as energy consumption we are over regulated to the point of being criminals. it is pure b.s. this is a small example of the slow but incremental move to a police state by the global elites looking to control man kind. if someone has a huge grow operation, why not knock and stop in with some cops or dea agents. having a night time raid where they knock down your door and stick a gun in your face in the middle of the night over power consumption and POSSIBLY growing weed is ridiculous. The patriot act enables this kind of behavior and we need to rise as one and stop all this government and elitest take over. its becoming 1984 faster than ever and the majority of society needs to wake up, stop watching E news about the latest celeb rehab trip and get a clue. they used to try to hide the fact they are corrupt and looking to rape us all, but they are becoming more and more arrogant and bold. seriously.

www.infowars.com


my 2 cents.

America, land of freedom.


And power comsumption monitoring.

Your friend should contact barry cooper

http://nevergetbusted.com/kopbusters/index.php (http://nevergetbusted.com/kopbusters/index.php)

This topic reminds me of this nice song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pV7u91A3KGQ

 :) :) :) :). I am planning to put up my miner , I am here with the lowest electricity price ,around 5cent per kilowatt . I hope after a month this won't happen to me .

Even though ,pot-growing here is popular.

Vancouver is in CANADA.  FYI.

See previous post.

no shit. I am referring to the power consumption monitoring in the US. go be a smartass somewhere else.

OWNED! LOL

Wow, this is insane.

Little behind on Google news?  ;)

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/update-on-google-health-and-google.html

lol and all they found was bitcoins right  ;D

Owned what?
i didn't even read the whole thread, and also he says the same thing.
you have a strange concept for "owned".

I don't. It's just a kid with an overactive imagination and a need for attention.

The DEA busted in your 'buddys' house and asked if he's the 'google or something'.

Then you woke up.

No DEA kicking in my doors, but I will say that about a month after I put together 3 dedicated miners, I got a letter from DWP saying that someone will be coming by to check the meter.  Could be routine, but I'm just sayin.

The DEA has no jurisdiction inside Canada, which Vancouver is a part of.

Sigh...http://thetyee.ca/News/2004/10/27/WhyUSDrugCopVan/ (http://thetyee.ca/News/2004/10/27/WhyUSDrugCopVan/)

That's the first result on google bty. An I while I said DEA I'm not sure who the equivalent in Canada is as I'm in Portland WA
Look If I have to spend this thread trying to prove I'm not BS'ing you guys then I'm sorry I bothered to give you some sort of warning that this could happen.

I'm sorry I even bothered as this now seems more like a witch hunt than people thinking this could ever happen to them as well.

If you want to consider this as a possibility and talk about it then do otherwise don't bother as I'm finished defending myself.

Story seems fairly legit; Cops are cunts. End of story.

^ lol

Also, I'm about to bring another 2 Gh/s online. If anyone does show up to my door, I will definitely get pics for this thread.  :)

Oh and a lawyer to sue them with.

Becarefull, in some places it's a crime to take pictures or video of cops on duty...

Another troll went out of the newbie cage -_- Cops do not tell you "We ran fly over thermal scan which picked up a higher than normal heat signature coming from his utility room"

No that would just be in the search warrant they're required to give you a copy of (at least here in the US) when they perform the search.

I'm sorry you think it's a witch hunt. The fact is that we've heard this same story before, exact in nearly every detail, and it turned out to be completely unsubstantiated. If you really wanted to warn people that this was really going on, then you could have provided some substantiation, such as a news story from the Vancouver Sun or some other semi-reliable news source.

And if your friend claimed that this happened and did NOT call the press, then you should doubt every word of the story.

Well I dont know about this guy's story actually happening or not, but I certainly believe that police will come knocking if they suspect you to be growing drugs. I talked to my father about bitcoins when I first began a couple months ago and he came right out and said it before I could tell him any stories of it. He was a drug/substance abuse counselor in my hometown, so he was in frequent contact with law enforcement and dealt with individuals who were addicts. He said the same thing, that the police look for trends where there's a sharp increase of electric usage, because that's exactly what it points to: growing drugs. Typically my apartment uses ~350kw/month for me and my roomate. With 2 mining rigs, I used around 770 kw, and this month Ive used 1100kw just up to the 26th. I mean if you were growing drugs, this kind of power usage is exactly what would make police suspicious.

This is my electric report, it certainly LOOKS like something is up, doesnt it? :)
http://orion.kaddar.net/power.jpg

Don't even care if this is true or not,it's funny as hell  ;D.

Good story. But the DEA doesn't even have jurisdiction in Canada.
Duh. If that happened it would be either the RCMP or the Vancouver City Police that did it.
And that is possible, but not the DEA. Not saying it can't happen though.
Just be smart enough to use the right LEA in the story.

Yah, it looks like you got an air conditioner is all.

Well, in my contry the most could happen is to receive a greeting card from the electricity supplier, saying to keep up the good work :D Talking about Bulgaria.

I can't verify the claims but I know in CA it is common to have that stuff happen. The reason the cops check the energy usage is because people will convert homes into grow ops for growing weed. They use a hydroponic method and artificial light - its very energy intensive.

Also they will use heat signature because the lamps in the grow op will generate alot of heat. The grow op owner will try to divert this heat outside so when they do a thermal scan they might see alot of heat being pumped out through the chimney. However, grow op owners are getting much more advanced to prevent detection.

Ya, just like on "Weeds".
Maybe they'll have Shane doing mining in Denmark next season.

So your story is bs, so what? Nice story man...

Count me in for selling mining licences if option is there,but how do I start (is my question.Still thinking)

Also i think it's ridiculous for the feds to bust ur door 4 mining lol even tho it's not a pot growing op. I wouldn't b suprised if this happened in UK where I am mining from atm (despite high elec prices I still just about profit sourt of)

Thankfully the part of the UK im mining from,the met police can't bother u at they stick 2 London and large cities there.In some parts of UK,it can be quiet so u won't get hassled too much unless u get busted for hacking though.I don't think they're bothered about mining atm tho as long as ur elec usage is low enough not to be suspicious.At this point I must make myself clear in that, I do not condone illegal activity of any kind however but this is more about advice for people who mine BTC.

My advice in general is,once in a while just shut down ur computers for a brief period.You can fix 2 issues that way;
1.Overheating if there and
2.Brief periods of having switched off the computers will reduce ur elec bill/use a bit so it's all gd (and reduce ur chancs a bit of being hassled over high elec use).

I hope this helps ny of u who r in similar situation :-)

RCMP drug enforcement branch is the Canadian version of the DEA. There have been a few reports of the DEA being in Canada conducting business and not on the up and up.

One example. http://www.cfdp.ca/dea.htm

"BC justice calls illegal US Drug Enforcement Administration activities in Canada an "abuse of process"

I went to a DARE presentation (drug awareness for pre-teens) at my daughter's school (Edmonton) where they outright said excess power consumption is one tool the drug enforcement branch uses as a sign for grow ops.

This scenario seems plausible IMO but one would think they need more than just power consumption to raid the house and that doesn't explain the heat signature comment. Sounds like a few assumptions.




 

This article is a little dated, but very relevant:
http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1209250 (http://forums.cannabisculture.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1209250)

When I was in Vancouver in 2010, I read a similar article discussing theft of electricity and it sounded like they were going to have a crackdown... entirely plausible in my opinion, given the location is actually Vancouver...

Well,

I have been busted by german cops for the posession of an unusual amount of CD-Rs(The charge was selling of illegal copies). They destroyed my furniture, contaminated my data, destroyed some of my harddrives, and local court says that's ok, I'll get the material value of my CD-Rs that were destroyed in the process and during examination. While the charge was ofc bogus(I mean, my linux archive alone was more than a thousand discs, I've been using linux since 1998), they then got me for writing illegal code(Yes, in our "free" country of germany, art can be illegal). So I guess that story about being busted for mining could be true. I'd still love to see some real evidence, like a redacted version of the search warrant.

again. not to sound like a total conspiracy nut, but does anyone else feel uncomfortable will so much police surveillance? sounds a lot like the little brother of 1984 getting ready to become the "big brother". Global elites want to control you. fight the power!

www.infowars.com - read it daily!!!

I was wondering if this could happen.  The problem is, it's summer here in texas, and it's damm hot.  A spike in energy use alone cant possibly justify busting down someone door looking for drugs.  If they do, I have my lawyer on speeddial.

Well, where i live police wouldn't kick my door in the middle of the night for ANYTHING!

They can only do it between 7a.m. and 9p.m. ;) People do have the right to rest you know?

Maybe you, north-americans, should consider moving out of there to some place where you actually do have rights  :D

Well, if they want to, they will do it at exactly 07:01 AM. And they'll come in masked, with axes, hammers, shotguns, vests and everything. Also there will be 20 seconds before the first knock on the door and there being no door. You should answer half-naked, you can dress later, you can't re-materialize your door later.

Yes
Been there, done that! Not because of mining but for drugs. Yes, they came at 7:01 AM, but they knocked on the door. Europe is more civilized than north america, that's granted :)

Hope they don't do that stuff here. My latest electric bill jumped by 1000% lol.

The people in power want to stay in power, since pointlessly measuring dicks is emotionally rewarding for some people.

Totally plausible. Most people in the country I live in don't even know the name for the equivalent of the DEA. The location of their headquarters is directly opposite a drug den of a nightclub, owned by a politicians son.

 At least one place in Canada will automatically report you to the cops if your electricity goes above 93kWh/day.

"In regards to if being a miner will bring the cops to your doorstep, according to the Bitcoin Miner, the power consumption will be somewhat like the electric usage for "marijuana grow-op." An example was "The Canadian town of Mission, BC has a bylaw that allows the town's Public Safety Inspection Team to search people's homes for grow ops if they are using more than 93 kWh of electricity per day." There have allegedly been reports floating in IRC of two different cases of police showing up at a bitcoin miner's residence with a search warrant. "

source:

http://blogs.computerworld.com/18335/bitcoin_miners_busted_police_confuse_bitcoin_power_usage_for_pot_farm?source=rss_blogs

 Here's another link to a story about cops and power usage.

http://www.davehamel.com/index.php/?p=2487