Anonymous Threatens Robin Hood Attacks Against Banks 529
gManZboy writes "Just in time for the holidays, hacktivist collective Anonymous has announced that it has teamed up with like-minded group TeaMp0isoN to donate to charity. The catch: they're using stolen credit data from big banks to make donations, in a campaign they're calling Operation Robin Hood. Is the #OpRobinHood campaign for real, or like previous threats against Wall Street and Facebook, just another hoax? Aesthetically, at least, the OpRobinHood video ticks all of the traditional Anonymous aesthetic requirements: a mashed-up 'p0isoaNoN' logo (green on black), a liberal dose of swelling choral music (via that movie trailer staple 'Europa,' by Globus), together with selected clips of Kevin Costner as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves."
Not the way to do this (Score:5, Interesting)
What sucks about this idea... (Score:5, Interesting)
If they send the money to honest charities like Oxfam, Unicef or Médecins Sans Frontières, they will probably just re-credit the transferred money back to the bank. And if they use some less scrupulous charity, well, that charity shouldn't be getting money in the first place. In any case, there's no real win here.
What would be really cool, though, is if Visa (to demonstrate their unbreachable security) set out a Hack-for-Oxfam challenge, in which any money that hackers manage to route to Oxfam would be stay with them and be considered a charitable donation from Visa. It would be great free publicity if the hackers failed, and a very good deed would be done if the hackers succeeded - plus, they could patch the exploited security holes.
Ready, Fire, Aim (Score:4, Interesting)
I think there's ample evidence to conclude that this could very well be an attempt by the DHS or the FBI to create more paper terrorists. You can expect some arrests around the holidays. They're almost stalinist in their punctuality of the trials, whether public or secret.
Re:Great (Score:5, Interesting)
Most of anonymous is in the middle class (if they own a computer and can spend time hanging out at forums then they're not the super poor). So they should just donate their own cash to charities. Think they'll go for this idea, or they'd rather just steal someone else's money and then brag about it on their ipads?
Re:Great (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Ready, fire, aim (Score:5, Interesting)
The charities will be worse off since the banks will take the money back and then charge the charity a charge back fee. This action could bankrupt some charities.
Re:I dont see any issues with them. (Score:3, Interesting)
What I keep wonder about is even though money and dept might be in balance, what about the interest money which is collected ?
why not good old vandalism? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:What sucks about this idea... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I dont see any issues with them. (Score:4, Interesting)
No, you really can't. However, certain institutions (the Federal Reserve Bank and other equivalents) can effectively create cash by creating an equal amount of debt, which works much like cash but with a negative value. Then that institution can issue both the cash and the debt to a bank, effectively giving a value of zero. If a bank wants to lend out the new cash it just received, it's still stuck with the equivalent amount of debt to pay back at some point. The bank could make arrangements with other banks to pay back the debt for them, and raise fees to cover the debt, but the debt still exists. There is no non-existent cash, and there is no free money, either.
I think you are really confused.
Let me ask you this. If the inflation rate is 3% per month and I'm able to secure a 30 year loan from the federal reserve at 0% interest, is the federal reserve not in effect GIVING me free wealth? The answer is an obvious yes. Please learn about rhetorical questions.
Where is this wealth coming from? It's coming from the IDIOTS holding US dollars during that 30 year period, watching the value decrease through the inflation that is created by the zero interest rate federal loans of which they'll never get their hands on.
Those idiots are YOU and I and everyone else in this country who is not a crony of the 1 party system.
Now you might say "well why don't you invest in commodities then? you don't need no stinkin commodities crowding your living space, just buy into the markets and the futures and options."
To which I reply "good Effing luck getting any of your wealth back from the hands of those in wall st"
I've been through this before in other countries. The next step is to declare a bank holiday and freeze people's bank accounts so you can't retrieve your money. Freeze and confiscate their commodities. Freeze wages. Your debts won't be frozen. You will still have to pay your mortgage and your car payments, but your bank account will be frozen. The inflation will keep slicing away at your frozen salaries too. When it's all said and done, the debt of the 1% will be liquidated as it needs to be and the wealth of the 99% will no longer be in their hands.
END THE FED.
This will only hurt the charities... (Score:4, Interesting)
The only thing this will do is cost charities millions in audits, time, etc and make many lose services they use to collect donations. You know what will happen if a charity receives illicit funds through paypal? Their bank account gets frozen and paypal will in most cases never allow them to use their service again.
If they want to be dicks they should use these attacks through online services that the music/movie industries run / make money from, or big evil online retails like walmart and bestbuy or make payments to other banks customers mortgages / dept.
Re:Ready, fire, aim (Score:5, Interesting)
Your bank sucks bro. My DBS card center called me once on the suspicious activity right after the charge by an ID thief and with my approval proceed to reverse, cancel, cancel the card, issue me a new card in the mail while keeping the old account number all on the same phone call. I asked them how they know it wasn't me, they said they analyze my previous spending pattern (I only use my card for online payments) and notice this is a weird large sum offline payment. Totally wow'ed me omfg112 props!!
In the fierce competitive banking environment such as Hong Kong, people actually work hard to win your business.
Re:Ready, fire, aim (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm not sure about the order. Obama had already had some people (including teenagers) murdered by predator drone before he went and laughed and joked about it at a press conference, saying that boys dating his daughters better be careful.
Re:Ready, fire, aim (Score:5, Interesting)
As GP said, if usage falls outside your normal usage pattern, they'll detect it.
Chances are that if those black hats use a thousand credit cards, atleast a few dozen of them will look like normal usage patterns.
Re:They're not really stealing from bank (Score:5, Interesting)
Never let your credit card debt be more than your monthly wage. Pay it off in full monthly and get charged 0% interest. It's that easy.
1. You are always one month ahead. You basically have a free month's wages until the day you die.
2. Many cards, like mine, offer 1-2% "cash back". I actually get supermarket points on mine which can be doubled or quadrupled at certain times of the year. It's like getting paid to use the card. Up to 7% sometimes.
3. Profit.
Re:Ready, fire, aim (Score:4, Interesting)
Assuming the jurisdiction of this 'hack' is in the USA, what about donating stolen money to the IRS? Best case -- lower national debt. Worst case -- getting the attention of the government money collectors.
The Scrooges always say... if Warren Buffet thinks he should pay more to the IRS, why not just write the check? Well -- replacing "write a check" with "maintain inferior security of their monetary systems" works. Anonymous can pass along the money for Buffet and the Scrooges in kind!