Man says he hacked laptops at Sharaf DG to mine cryptocurrency ... people are skeptical

In a recent post published by Telegraph - an anonymous blogging platform - a customer claimed to have used the display laptops of the UAE-based electronics retailer, Sharaf DG, to mine cryptocurrency.

In his blog post, the individual writing under the name "Not Gonna Tell ;)" explained how it all happened.

He had initially ordered and paid for a specific phone at the retail store, before changing his mind and opting for a different phone instead.

He called the mobile support line to let them know the purchased phone was no longer required and they should, alternatively, send him the other phone he had in mind.

As a response, the retailer told the customer to cancel the existing arrangement and place a new order for the phone he wished to own.

Despite the financial setback and the cost of roughly 3000 AED ($816.77), he placed a separate order whilst waiting for the refund on the first one.

Shortly after canceling his first order, he received an email informing him that the phone will be delivered tomorrow.

He claimed to have called the store several times to explain that this order needed to be canceled and there was no need for a delivery.

The courier turned up at his home address anyway to deliver the phone he had already canceled. Of course, he sent it back.

Five days later, he received his money back... minus 18 AED ($4.90) delivery charges. This is when he emailed them to ask for the 18 AED to be refunded but claimed the store either ignored him or never replied to his messages.

As an act of revenge, the customer claimed to have hacked the display laptops at Sharaf DG to mine 9000 AED ($2450.31) worth of cryptocurrency.

He said he removed the antivirus software, installed the miner on the laptops, and spread it across the network in the store.

"Very simple implementation, since the PCs have admin access," said the anonymous blogger.

"Notice your laptops running a bit hot lately? Good, I only needed 3 months to mine what equals to around 9000 AED worth of XMR using my very own mining farm, sponsored by you," he added.

The post was later shared on Reddit. Some people were skeptical while others hailed him as a genius.