Electricity theft is a global problem, and it’s getting more dire all the time. While the problem is most common in developing countries, where grid infrastructure is limited and utilities and state authorities have lower oversight capacities, developed countries are not immune either. This theft can occur in many forms and at many scales, from individuals tapping into power lines to power their individual residences to large-scale and sophisticated theft schemes to power entire cryptocurrency mining farms.

Just this week, Mexican authorities busted a clandestine operation in rural Puebla, where 300 computers were using stolen electricity to mine cryptocurrency around the clock. The operation was siphoning electricity from a federal…