Why do humans resorted into illegal things for the seek of money??
Greed.
We are too attached to material things that we wanted but we don't particularly need.. This man just an one pity example and this will make a lesson learned the hard way.. 3.5 years is like a lifetime for an amount of bitcoin can be accumulated in legally with an effort to do so..
China isn't a place to do such thing,, it has harsh punishment for such actions..
I'm sure that he knows what's coming, he took the risk and now paying for it. Yes, China law is really tough, that's why the crime rate is down, but Chinese still find ways to give it a try, if they can get away with it, its fine, but its a life and death situation for someone if they're caught. So he have to pay for it and serves 3.5 years for stealing electricity. Even high officials being caught for corruption can't do anything about the anti-corruption campaign of Pres. Xi. So I think its fair and he deserves the punishment.