Mining crypto is seen as untraceable and therefore "safe". Plus the mining code scales very well, in that it can be run on a great many different hosts at once.

Mining crypto is seen as untraceable and therefore "safe". Plus the mining code scales very well, in that it can be run on a great many different hosts at once. On the surface at least, the crime is seen as extremely low risk with the potential for a massive reward should one get lucky.