Mysterious ‘Robin Hood’ hackers donating stolen money to charity

Daily US Times: A group of hackers is donating stolen money to charity in what is considered as a mysterious first for cyber-crime that’s puzzling experts.

Darkside hackers claim to have extorted millions of dollars from several companies, but say they now want to “make the world a better place”.

In the dark web, the hackers posted receipts for $10,000 in Bitcoin donations to two charities.

Children International, one of the charaties who got the money, says it will not be keeping the money.

The move is being seen as a strange and troubling development, both legally and morally.

The hackers claim in the blog post on 13 October that they only target large profitable companies with their ransomware attacks. The attacks hold organisations’ IT systems hostage until the company paid the ransom.

“We think that it’s fair that some of the money the companies have paid will go to charity,” they wrote.

No matter how bad you think our work is, we are pleased to know that we helped changed someone’s life, the hacking group added.

The gang posted the donation along with tax receipts they received in exchange for the 0.88 Bitcoin they had sent to two charities, Children International and The Water Project.

Children International supports children, families and communities in the Philippines, Colombia, India, Ecuador, Zambia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the United States.

“If the donation is linked to a hacker, we have no intention of keeping it”, a Children International spokesperson said.

The Water Project works to improve access to clean water in sub-Saharan Africa. It has not responded to requests for comment.

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