Hacker Sends Stolen Money From Bank As Bitcoins To Anti-ISIS Outfit

Robinhood Hacker Donates $11,000 Of Stolen Bitcoin To Help Fight ISIS

The hacker who goes by the pseudonyms, “Phineas Phisher” and “Hack Back” has claimed responsibility for both the Gamma Group and Hacking Team breaches. He revealed on Reddit that he hacked a bank and donated the money to a Kurdish region of Syria.

Phisher claims to have stolen €10,000 or about ?£8,000 ($11,000) of digital money and transferred them to an account in Syria to help a crowdfunding campaign set up by members of the Rojava region’s economic committee, which is described by the hacker as “one of the most inspiring revolutionary projects in the world.” It is said that a Kurdish stronghold in Rojava in Syria which borders a territory controlled by the Islamic State (ISIS) group has received the bitcoin transfer for a project that collects animal and human waste and transforms it to natural fertilizer. However, Phisher refused to name the bank that was hacked.

Phisher claims that the bitcoin donation were recorded publicly on the blockchain ledger and listed on the crowdfunding campaign page that came from hacking into a bank.

“The money did come from robbing a bank,” Phisher wrote in a Reddit post on Wednesday. “Bank robbing is more viable than ever, it’s just done differently these days.”

Based on information from a crowdfunding page, Rojava is mired in poverty, and seeks financial assistance to buy farm equipment, as it is isolated from international trade as a result of the confrontation with ISIL/ISIS/Daesh and an aggressive Turkey.

As a result, Phisher took up the region’s cause as his own, and on May 5, he announced he donated 25 Bitcoin to the area’s fertilizer infrastructure campaign. At today’s price, that’s about $11,300.

The hacker donated the bitcoin money not only to support Rojava, but also to gain media attention to the region. On Reddit, he even advised other hackers and hacktivists to help the cause, either by setting up ATM skimming campaigns or robbing banks and then donate the money. Further, he suggested Kaspersky’s report on Carbanak, the cybercriminal group that robbed more than $1 billion from 100 banks across 30 countries in 2013 and 2014 for more skilled hackers.

Phisher recently claimed responsibility for his attacking Hacking Team, a controversial firm that sells spying tools to governments. Hacking Team was breached in 2015, exposing more than 400GB of highly sensitive data about clients and operations.