Thousands of names of individuals in Canada and the United States who provided donations to the Freedom Convoy protest against vaccine mandates have been leaked online by hackers, VICE News reported on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2022) Thousands of Names of individuals in Canada and the United States who provided donations to the Freedom Convoy protest against vaccine mandates have been leaked online by hackers, VICE news reported on Monday.
The incident occurred on Sunday night when hackers targeted the GiveSendGo crowdfunding site that helped raise $8.7 million for the participants of the Freedom Convoy in Canada and released the names of more than 92,000 donors, the report said.
A previous attempt by the government to stop donations to the protesters resulted in another crowdfunding platform, GoFundMe, freezing of some $9 million and saying they would redirect the funds to a charity of their choice. GoFundMe refunded the funds after public backlash and warnings by US lawmakers that they will investigate it for theft.
Nobody has taken responsibility for Sunday's hack and leak, and the database containing the names is longer available. VICE News said it had reviewed it and found out that 56 percent of donations came from the United States and 29 percent from Canada, the report said.
As the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assumed more emergency powers on Monday, thousands of donors from the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and other countries are now making donations in support of the protest, the report said.
The hacked GiveSendGo site on Sunday redirected visitors to another site where they were greeted by a video from the Disney film Frozen and a message accusing protesters of being "insurrections," the report said.
"On behalf of sane people worldwide who wish to continue living in a democracy, I am now telling you that GiveSendGo itself is now frozen," the message said.
In mid-January, a mass protest against COVID-19 vaccine mandates by truckers, farmers and other Canadians began and spread across Canada. The truckers formed a Freedom Convoy protesters that descended on the capital Ottawa and said will stay until their demands to scrap the mandates are carried out.
Latest polls reveal that two-third of Canadians agree with the protesters and want the mandates canceled.
