https://www.therakyatpost.com/news/malaysia...s-crypto-crime/


Original source from chinese , lazy to translate , https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?stor...&ref=embed_post

Since got time

Landlord Loses 2-Year Legal Battle, Forced To Pay RM825K For Tenant’s Crypto Crime
Despite TNB reducing the initial RM1.7 million penalty, the landlord still faces mounting costs, including legal fees and 5% interest on the outstanding amount.

After years of legal battles, a landlord has been forced to shoulder a massive electricity penalty.

Due to his tenant’s electricity theft, he ultimately faces an astronomical bill of RM825,000, which leaves him mentally and physically exhausted.

The landlord, Jason, shared his ordeal through a Facebook page.

He revealed that his nightmare began in July 2020 when he rented his property to a tenant who claimed to run a computer business, only to discover later that the tenant was a complete fraudster.

He revealed that his nightmare began in July 2020 when he rented his property to a tenant who claimed to run a computer business, only to discover later that the tenant was a complete fraudster.

Following legal consultation, Jason was advised to wait for TNB’s lawyer’s letter rather than paying the penalty immediately.

After a two-year wait, TNB began processing the case in 2022 and reduced the penalty from RM1.7 million to RM825,000 – still an overwhelming amount.

The case underwent lengthy court proceedings from 2022 to 2024, with Jason losing the legal battle. He now has to pay:

The penalty amount continues to accrue 5% interest
RM25,000 for TNB’s legal fees
RM11,000 for his first lawyer’s collection fees

Jason expressed his frustration at the situation, questioning the fairness of a system that holds landlords accountable for their tenants’ illegal activities.

This has pushed me to the edge! I can’t accept losing my life savings like this, so I’ve decided to appeal and seek another lawyer for any chance of overturning the decision.

Landlords like Jason face challenges as some tenants have fraudulently opened TNB accounts in their names, leading to massive debts from illegal Bitcoin mining activities.

In a massive cryptocurrency mining fraud scheme, 45 property owners and business operators collectively lost RM8.5 million in electricity charges after tenants stole their identities to conduct illegal Bitcoin mining operations.

The victims only discovered the fraud upon receiving hefty bills from TNB.

Among the victims are KC Teo, a wheelchair-bound landlord facing a RM300,000 bill; Ganeson, who had to pay RM70,000; Tom, whose company was fraudulently used to register 10 TNB accounts accumulating RM700,000 in bills; and Loo, whose identity was stolen to rent a shop lot that amassed RM196,000 in electricity charges.

Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung has called for TNB to establish a dedicated task force to investigate Bitcoin mining activities and plans to propose amendments to the Electricity Supply Act 1990 in Parliament.



TLDR : landlord vs tnb but landlord loss , tnb had reduce penalty but it is still large amount , landlord fall into crypto scam tenant who spike the tnb bill


Lesson : all landlord must check tenant profile very super hard before sign tenancy agreement and landlord shaking in fear now the law is not side with them



honorable ayam /k , thanks for the overwhelm respond

This post has been edited by nelson969: Feb 19 2025, 05:38 PM

So property bubble soon?

With tnb app, there's no reason for LL to get surprises if he checks diligently.

tnb give discount, tnb not winning either.

825kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
pay to tnb?biar betul...every day pay rm1 can la...tnb slow slow wait

Cant la, later they cut off how ? Suddenly ask one shot payment or no electricity for you

Curi electric. Got app also useless.

wont work if tenant illegally taps into the cable

i dont think they could check much details if the account under different name. at best only monthly bill.
but most of the time landlord just dont bother if monthly bill is low anyway, they only shocked if the bill is high. evil crypto miner will just make sambungan haram, so bill will always low than it should.

anyway landlord must buy current clamp to actually check the current flow, if it is too high, but the meter run slow, then it is redflag.


This post has been edited by zerorating: Feb 19 2025, 01:38 PM

breaking

As long the building on that address is yours. You still the one yang kena responsible, no matter what name on the TNB meter. Yeah,kinda suck

They bypass the meter, app will show nothing.

Done well, naked eye wont be able to tell, more so our untrained eye.

kamikazi jer la
even after sell the house still rugi ni

This post has been edited by poco loco: Feb 19 2025, 01:38 PM

habisla rent price gonna naik

they curi electric before the meter check, so they bypass it.

ur meter won't know. unless a huge amount of electric consumption in that area and that's why they come and check.

don't rent out, no problem.
just sell the house/shop

Electricity Supply Act 1990 is lopsided against consumers

in this case, I congratz TNB. Same method to those who hacked their meter, b4 kantoi, me happy cz monthly rm60 with 4 AC, after kantoi, damn u TNB so cruel.

Funny thing with TNB is that if the amount exceeds the deposit collected by them shouldnt it be cut off immediately. Surely every business has credit terms and limit per customer. Sounds fishy.

follow PAS method la, ask donation

Driving him to death. I wonder if it would take the despairing landlord to simbah petrol and burn himself to death in front of TNB offices for those bureaucratic management to wake up.

App don't show from upstream if they bypass your local meter leh.
TnB also don't instantly know if got curi, how would homeowners fare any better.

Anyway generally miners how to profile?

got this also no use.. bypass those incoming electric cable ler


the only solution is, must put visit/spot check clause in the rental agreement
1. handover the keys
2. spot check after renovation
3. 1 month after moving in
4. then, periodic checking after that, like when collect rent time.


doing all this also might not foolproof but at least, those would be crypto miners tenant will skip choosing rent it.


The best solution is TNB must have centre meter for each row of shop, any meter reading different up to certain %, trigger spot check or at least trigger those shop owners TNB accounts a notice of awareness

from apps, can check the daily consumption for electric, how much is the rates per day usage.

its the wiring before meter that need to be monitor la. thats how tnb technician determine if meter lari or not.

People already say "bypass the meter". Apps can only show reading from the meter.

wait why is the court siding with TNB lol. need to read the facts of the case.

stolen identities also kena? that's freaking TNB's responsibilities leh to conduct proper due diligence.

Landlords need to be extra careful for renting their properties liao

Curi electric mean they directly tap into wayar before the meter, if meter also cannot detect how u expect tnb to detect?

Landlord pandai wan buy property for investment but too lazy to do spot check is the one normally kena. Daisei next time don’t expect good tenant is easy to find.

Something is weird about the law.. 99% they know who is the culprit but conveniently penalise the landlord instead of the culprit.

When we talk about responsibility, the landlord and also TNB both are responsible.

Landlord did not check the bill contantly to prevent massive amount from accumulation.

TNB also lack the monitoring required to trigger early warning signs of excessive usage. They know the average consumption for a house, shops and factory but they choose to ignore the red flag.

TNB being a huge conglomerate earning billions have a responsibility to provide regular monitoring on suspicious electrical theft. Just like how Banks are being forced to monitor suspicious transactions.

This post has been edited by Thrust: Feb 19 2025, 01:57 PM

825k lol...can buy a bungalow cash

its your property, do your due diligence. always spot check tenant. simply collect rent, then bark like dog when get penalised.

it is not tnb or any other agency responsibility to bear that cost.

kecian property owner, keepitup

this is not charity

landlord can bankrupt lor, TNB is a listed co
dont show mercy, charge to the max, compound the interest!

we should follow uk style la

no pay u get switched to prepaid

How to check if it won't appear in TNB app? For these kind of cases and there's a legit tenancy agreement, the responsibility shouldn't be on the landlord as how the landlord gonna know?

Call TNB man and come to check the premise and meter every month?

Pakai nama sama. The meter is illegally registered via legal method.

Also, the app now offers to add your account via IC numbers.

I am not saying the owner is negligent. The court shouldnt judge the owner has to pay since they dont use the electricity. The meter registration itself is a fraud. The burden should fall on TNB to pay their own mistakes for fraudulant registeration.

This post has been edited by Blackscreamerz: Feb 19 2025, 02:09 PM

cb type "landlord" never check or look into tenants which sitting in your own legally owned address?

jenis suka take advantage as landlord then cry ma cry pa when sendiri lapse in judgement & tables flipped

Wanna ask hor. For cases like this, cannot catch the tenants ? Dont have their name and ID ?

TNB: why catch tenant when landlord is right here?

If this kind of case set precedent, DLLM who dare to rent things out wor. The individual meter registration should already separate the risk between tenant and owner.

Another very stupid thing about TNB is why dont cut the electric early?

Whats the guarantee letting it flows like that , you will get the money back?

TNB is a fat cow. time to make it works.

that why but the landlord kalah worrrrrrrr

sure some corporate by laws hiding somewhere let them win.

Must fight to FC la this case.

Unethical LPT

Don't buy house, just rent then steal electricity

sell property
pay tnb
??????
profifiittit

not sure...

haven't read the whole news to know the basis of kalah

Meter registration isn't the issue right



Tenant is fake, scammer used stolen identity to rent and sign rental agreement
Scammer steal electric, owner doesn't realise and has no way of knowing unless he checks physically
TNB detected
TNB sue owner
Owner sue 'renter' but turns out it's stolen identity

TNB only cares who legally owns the meter, which is the owner
Up to owner to chase 'tenant' but if it's stolen identity then it gets complicated
scammer in the end goes scot free

Explain how this is disadvantage to customer???


You pinjam credit card to your girlfriend.
she swipe until FULL
you refuse to pay, because is "NOT YOUR EXPENSES"

like this?


1. Invest Property
2. Rent our prop also Rent out own TNB Account to Tenant.

3. Tenant run away with tons of outstanding bill

4. Landlord, not my problem.

Stupid TNB does not have a stop loss procedure to auto stop and cut electricity supply upon excessive usage amount. But wants rakyat to bear huge loss. Simple procedure also cannot implement. Malaysia MNC company quality with CEO earning millions in a single year.
🤯

tenant can register electricity under their own name, why landlord want to use own name for electric bill

still living in 80s?

You are right.

The meter is not an issue only because TNB is too lax.

Objectively speaking, the meter ownership is the issue. How can the owner held responsible since the tenant fraudulent use his name to open a meter. Buka CCTV at TNB shop also can see who came and register right.

TNB just trying to deny their own problems in this matter.

i thought the meter is under the tenant's registration?

will still look for landlord for unpaid bills when shit happens

Safest way to avoid all these: don't rent, buy house only for own stay, not for investment.

If illegal tab means not inside bill

this i have to tell you
YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW ELECTRICITY SUPPLY WORKS.

not sure your education level, but let me explain in LAY MEN TERMS.

1. Do you think TNB can Predict next seconds, next hour electricity usage????

NO.

TNB supply the grid at 125~150% of grid average demand. to "Anticipate unexpected surge usage"
They cannot just supply 100%. this will cause ALOT trouble

So, Yes. TNB always has "MEGA watt amount of electricity that goes wasted"
It let them flow, either for nothing or , can go court for a big charge.

Some of my client faces this issue to but not to the extend of millions but hundred of thousands.

My advice to them is not to go to court since the act is very clear tnb is going to win as long you are the account owner

Hello, meter ownership has been under owner all this while
Owner didn't change meter ownership, he just rent out his property to 'tenant' without change of meter ownership

That's why people always say change meter ownership when rent out property, but its a very mafan process most owners don't want to deal with it so they just pass on the bill monthly to tenant for them to pay
But in this case, 'tenant' bypass the meter, so the meter just shows normal usage

This part doesn't make sense. It says the tenant fraudulently open a TNB account in the landlord's name?

Or the landlord rent the premises and the tenant use the rental agreement to open an account in the own tenant's name?

Which is correct?

if tamper with meter or tap into power line before meter, how can the owner be responsible?

This is a theft already... TNB is just taking the easy way out..
in T&C with TNB got say property owner is ultimately responsible for the bill?

like that then i sud tap into my neighbour's line before meter and run mining machine...

Same thing can be said about bank fraud but then all the MPs want to penalize banks. When it is TNB then all shut up because TNB is own child.😆

They can opt to close account when a certain of level debt is accrued

May be the LL doesn't know an tnb account has been opened in his name? If he doesn't know the account exist, how can go check?

I think it's much harder to use stolen identify to register meter, rather to rent

"and Loo, whose identity was stolen to rent a shop lot that amassed RM196,000 in electricity charges."



This post has been edited by daijoubu: Feb 19 2025, 02:28 PM

Bill racked up by tenant from July to Dec same year. Means maybe something like this:

3 month see high usage but meter not matching trigger flag under TNB.
1-2 month finding out which unit under that substation consuming very high electricity.
1-2 month verifying and calculating backpay and billing owner.

Initial bill amount was 1.7mil for July-Dec (283k average per month if 6 month).
Even if they settle and find out within 2 month also you mau pay if kena bill for 500k+?

That's still better than millions in loss. Go prepaid lah, better for everyone. Then tenant own problem if no top up.

Which part or what did it says that is unfair to consumers?

Monthly billing and accumulative debts.

They have a portable machine smaller than your tablet to print bills, they dont have an account to check through outstandings?

The loss is not tracked because it bypassed the meter...

TNB can detect, just there is a time delay
Once they calculated the stolen amount then they slap the owners with the bill

If a house got zero usage in electricity is already red flag. So difficult to check? Just go visit all those house with zero usage.

happened during July 2020 when tenant comes in and owner only found out about the spiked bill in December 2020

most likely it's just covid period, owner don't dare to come out

Stolen electric before the meter .
Meter doesn't see what is stolen, so whoever baca the meter (and the app which linked to the meter) can't see anything different.

But TNB can calculate and estimate based on area usage. It takes time to investigate, and once TNB completes investigation they slap with retroactive billing. They bill the owner for the stolen amount

Stolen means the bill shows zero usage?

If account in the tenant's name, how to check regularly? Unless the account is in the Landlord's name and bill given to LL

I am talking about the cases of identity stolen to open meters.

Those landlords opt to use own name for their tenant's meter....no comment.

Easily evaded, normal appliance still use house punya wiring. Bypassed wiring you lay cable for your mining setup room only.

Collect rent and goyang kaki days are over.

No the bill shows normal usage

Say if before stolen, shop is using monthly 200kwj. Meaning the electric stuff connected to meter is using 200kwj.

Then after they tap the cable before the meter, connect to bitcoin machine, now the machine use additional 10000kwj that will not be 'seen' by the meter.
But the rest of the stuff that still connect to the meter continues to use 200kwj.

Your app will still keep showing 200kwj.

But TNB eventually will realise got 10000kwj missing, then they investigate. Once they pin point its being 'lost' through the cable going to your property, they calculate all the losses then slap you will the 10000kwj bill (multiply by dunno how many months)

If the tenant used stolen identity to do all kind of rental + TNB, then the landlord did not do DD when tenant made rental payments every months that the payer is not the same name?

If you read this article https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/...-rm8-5mil-bill/

The stolen identity is all used to rent the place, not to open TNB account.

If open TNB account with stolen identity then TNB will chase the stolen identity owner, but this is not the case I think

OK. I get what you mean. I believe this Jason guy might face the thing you shared here.

so how sud property owners protect themselves?

let say there is a formal agreement signed and TNB account under tenant's name, plus owner go premise inspect periodically and keep a copy of the TNB bill..

ultimately owner will responsible if tenant bypass meter and steal electricity?

if yes, lets find properties with outstation/overseas owners and kasi crpyto mining kau kau..

This post has been edited by seather: Feb 19 2025, 02:40 PM

This is why I hate renting any property that I own. Buy and then sell. Quick and painless.

This post has been edited by bootmod3: Feb 19 2025, 02:39 PM

No. They can separate which appliances use TNB original wire and which appliances use bypass wire.

Like fans and tv use TNB wire, aircons and crypto machine use bypass wire.

Monthly bill will only show fans and tv usage.

just ask the tenant to apply tnb account under their name.

The tenant steal electricity. So things wasn't in bills.
Only after find out tnb do back charge calculations.

No use. Tnb still go after the owner

If they cut off, how do they make money with their excesses...

Doesn't matter. TNB still go after owner of premise.

Next time do visit your tenant once a month and check their TNB connection lah. You can easily spot the abnormality of the wiring at the meter if they bypass it. The meter is always accessible from the outside.

actually is not fair. But if stands on TNB's side, landlord and tenant can pakai so to free from charges.

that is why tnb will go over to the landlord no matter how