American online fundraising platform GiveSendGo has demanded the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launch a probe into who hacked their site and illegally published the private information of donors to the Canadian trucker convoy.
GiveSendGo Founder Jacob Wells told Fox News on Wednesday that the attack on the website was a “well-orchestrated” political doxxing campaign.
“This seems well orchestrated. There’s strong political motivations behind this,” Wells told the outlet.
Some individuals have already begun to claim responsibility for the cyber attack, including people who “have histories in some pretty nefarious attacks.”
“This is illegal, and these people should be going to jail,” Wells said. “The FBI – I mean, it’s surprising that we haven’t heard from any investigative services. We will be reaching out ourselves to just see that there’s some investigation into this. This is completely unacceptable.”
Tens of thousands of people were affected by the hack, whose illegally leaked data has been published by several politicians, journalists and other figures in Canada. Some journalists have even used the illegal data breach to publicly identify business owners and other professionals who made donations to the Freedom Convoy.
Among those who shared the private information of Canadian citizens – including even university students – was former principal secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Gerald Butts.
On Twitter, Butts linked to a Twitter thread by the account ‘Toronto Watcher’ which cited the leaked information, including the names and places of work of dozens of Canadians.
One Ottawa small business owner was forced to shut down her store after receiving threats of retaliation for contributing $250 to the convoy fundraiser.
According to Wells, GiveSendGo would be reaching out to the FBI to “go after people that are engaging in this type of illicit illegal behaviour.”
“We find it unacceptable on our side that this happened, and that’s why we’re pouring into bringing on the best. We never want to see this happen, and it’s horrific to us that it has,” said Wells.
“I think this is highly, highly coordinated, very, very sophisticated hacking groups that have had a very, very targeted purpose in what they were trying to do. I hate the position that people have found themselves in. But this is the moment for them to rally, not be intimidated and say, ‘Yes, I support freedom. Yes, I support peaceful protests 100%.’”
“It’s the bedrock of democracy, and it’s the side that’s opposing this that’s really a group of terrorists,” Wells concluded. “They’re instilling terror. That’s their goal.”
