Two people have been arrested by Chinese police for allegedly staying at esports hotels for the sole purpose of stealing memory from rigs. Yeah, I was unfamiliar with esports hotels too.
Initially, Li worked alone, staying at a hotel in Shihezi City, according to Guangming Online (via Tom’s Hardware). With the memory crisis in full swing, RAM is in high demand and therefore very expensive. That’s especially true for memory that you would stick into a gaming PC.
After stealing from one esports hotel alone, Li allegedly recruited Cheng, and the two stayed at different hotels from May 15 to May 31, dismantling PCs as they went.
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The pair reportedly listed the memory on a second-hand trading platform, and allegedly made a profit of 13,200 yuan (just shy of $2,000) from 16 sticks total. Memory could further become a target for theft as it’s light and easy to conceal, and with AI sucking it all up, its prices have continued to rise over the last few years. Arguably, it offers the best gram/cost ratio out of any part of a PC right now.
Reportedly, guests noticed that PCs weren’t working after Li and Cheng’s stays, so the esports hotels reported the missing memory to the police, who subsequently caught the pair. Guangming Online claims that the pair’s “disassembly methods” and “stories for selling stolen goods” were the evidence needed to catch them.
Though Li and Cheng have been arrested, they are currently just under criminal detention and not considered guilty without a more substantial investigation. With memory only continuing to skyrocket, and no end in sight for the crisis, it seems likely thieves will continue yoinking memory from rigs.
Memory is not the only industry that has become more profitable to steal from in the wake of the explosion of AI. Earlier this month, cargo thieves made off with over $1 million worth of copper and equipment from data centers. All of that product was hidden in two vehicles in a truck yard.
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