A new mysterious form of cybercrime is puzzling experts. It involves stealing money from the rich and then donating it to charities.
The hackers known as Darkside claim to have stolen millions of dollars from companies in the past, and now they say they want to “make the world a better place.”
In a post on the dark web, the thieves hackers showed receipts worth $10,000 in Bitcoin donations to two charitable organizations.
The hackers claimed in the post that they only target profitable large companies with ransomware attacks.
These attacks hold the computer systems of institutions and companies hostage until a ransom is paid.
The hackers wrote: “We believe that it is fair for a portion of the money that companies earn to go to charitable work.”
They continued: “Regardless of how bad you think our job is, we are happy to know that we are helping change someone’s life. Today we are sending the first donations.”
The internet criminals posted the donation with tax receipts they received in exchange for 0.88 Bitcoins sent to two charitable organizations: Water Project and Save the Children.
A spokesperson for Save the Children told the BBC: “If the donation is linked to hacking, we have no intent to keep it.”
On the other hand, Water Project, which works to improve access to clean drinking water in sub-Saharan Africa, did not respond to requests for comment.
