IPOH: A lawyer is offering legal assistance to property owners slapped with hefty electricity bills due to tenants’ illegal bitcoin mining.

In a press conference Monday, about 10 property owners were present to ask Foo Hiap Siong on the matter.

More than 80 landlords throughout Malaysia have sought help from Foo over power theft by their tenants, where they have owed electricity utility company Tenaga Nasional between RM90,000 and RM1.7 million.

Foo is targeting to pool 500 landlords to initiate a class action.

“I urge the involved property owners to come forward or power theft will get more serious,” he said.

It was reported that more than 60 shoplot owners in Ipoh were slapped with millions of ringgit in electricity claims after their tenants were found to have been involved in illegal bitcoin mining activities.

In another report, 45 landlords and business operators in Petaling Jaya lost RM8.5 million in electricity charges after their identities were stolen by their tenants for bitcoin mining.

The landlords claimed that they were unaware of the power theft until they received notices from Tenaga.

A woman discovered that her identity card was used to rent a shoplot used to mine bitcoin illegally.

She received a call from Tenaga that her “tenants” rented a shoplot using her identity card and a fake stamping certificate and tenancy agreement where the electricity bill reached RM196,000.

Another man found out that 10 Tenaga accounts had been registered under his company name using fraudulent Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) documents.

It was reported that hair salon owner Yen Pit Yun, who let the upper unit of her shoplot in Panaroma Lapangan Perdana in Simpang Pulai last July, ended up with a RM1.2 million electricity bill after two months.

Her tenants were suspected of tampering with the power metre for cryptocurrency mining.