Anonymous, LulzSec Call For Mass Boycott Of PayPal

The hacker collective Anonymous has renewed its campaign against PayPal, but has taken a new direction: it is calling on its supporters to boycott the payment website.

While the hacker group allegedly launched a cyber attack in December that brought down PayPal's website, it called Wednesday for "anyone using PayPal to immediately close their accounts and consider an alternative."

The move comes a week after the FBI arrested 14 suspected members of Anonymous for the attack on PayPal's website in retaliation for the company suspending the account of the whistle-blower site Wikileaks.

In a statement posted on the file-sharing site Pastebin, the hacker collective said it was "outraged" by the arrests of suspected Anonymous members "who are involved in ethical, modern cyber operations" against "corrupt and greedy organizations, such as PayPal."

The hacker group said PayPal has been assisting law enforcement to apprehend those who participated in the attacks and said the company continues to withhold funds from WikiLeaks, which it called "a beacon of truth in these dark times."

"The first step to being truly free is not putting one's trust into a company that freezes accounts when it feels like, or when it is pressured by the U.S. government," said the statement signed by Anonymous and the splinter group Lulz Security.

A PayPal spokesperson said the company has not seen any changes to its normal operations.

Comments

[henrypapillon]

09:50 PM on 07/28/2011

Now that is deserved. I got a Pay Pal charge card once. they promised bonuses they did not deliver, they were impossible to get hold of to talk to personally. One night I spent 45 minutes waiting on hold to someone in Manila and then they dropped the call. It was awful. Then I tried to get their card off my PayPal preference and they wouldn't let me release it as the card of preference. I finally got rid of the card . It was like having herpes.

[Todd Messinger]

08:57 PM on 07/28/2011

I actually have been forced to boycott them for the past year. My ebay and paypal accounts were both suddenly suspended and when I called them to find out why, I was told I was a security risk. They wouldn't tell me any more than that. After about a dozen phone calls, I was finally told I had filed fraudulent bankruptcy forms with them. First, I have never filed any bankruptcy forms with anyone, second I have never owed any money to paypal or ebay which would require me to file anything with them. The second one would be a red flag you would think. I tried appealing a couple more times before I said screw it.

[K-Kay]

03:44 PM on 07/28/2011

What exactly are PayPal alternatives? I don't know of any, nor have I seen any other options on e-commerce sites, other than directly entering your bank info. However, I do despise PayPal, because they have often arbitrarily frozen my account and forced me to prove my identity, which has required me to keep a copy of my social security card and license on file. I avoid doing anything with them if I can. I first loved the privacy and security of it, but now I feel like they're trying to hold my information hostage.

[BrassOnes]

03:28 PM on 07/28/2011

One by one this kids are slowly arrested. There are more profitable ways to end up with prison sex.

[grawk]

12:22 PM on 07/28/2011

DoS attacks are NOT the same as a "sit-in" and does not seem to me to be free speech. A sit-in requires large numbers of people to physically block access to a building. A DoS attack requires one hacker to infect multiple computers with a worm which then attempts to bring down an internet service. If LulzSec wants to really organize a sit-in at PayPal, and has the actual numbers to shut it down, I say do it. PayPal serves millions of satisfied customers and employs thousands of employees. I don't see why a few losers in their parents' basements should be allowed to shut it down and somehow wear the mantle of Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hey LulzSec: Get out of the house and do something with your lives.

[supergranny]

11:14 AM on 07/28/2011

Casey Anthony walks and people think Anonymous deserves prison time. Only in America.

[jvabevofox]

08:59 AM on 07/28/2011

I made the mistake of appying for a paypal credit card. Once I got there card and read all there policys and there out of this world interest rate I took the card and cut it up. The credit card I already had was 9.9 interest so why in the world would I pay there extremly high interest rates. The card was never activated so I figured no big deal. A few months later I get a bill from paypal for items I had bought charged to my paypal credit card with there high interest rates. How could this be I wondered I never activated the card? Well when I called them they would give me no explanation has to how charges got on there card that was never activated but they said I needed to pay my bill. Well after a very heated discussion the charges was removed from my bill and I closed the account that I never really opened. I have heard many ,many other horror stories from others and I will never use paypal again.

[jvabevofox]

08:34 AM on 07/28/2011

The ebay paypal is such a scam. It started out as all these things do paypal is free and easy to use try it. Then became if you are going to do bussiness with ebay it is mandatory. Some times it's like they charge a fee just for thinking about paypal fees, fees and more fees. All of this of course is for your own good and protection they claim. The only people it is good for is ebay and paypal bank accounts. As the seller you pay a fee when you get paid you pay a fee when you want your money if you don't give them access to your bank account. They will go to any extremes to gain access to your bank account. They take money out at there will and freeze your account at there will. Ebay owns paypal and between all there fees together it is a joke. They are constantly changing there fees like a shell game. They claim something is now free but when you check there policy you find they have raised fees on something else. Then when you do the math you find out you are paying more in fees than you was before you was supposedly given something for free. So there are many many reasons to boycot paypal.

[breakingpoint]

08:25 AM on 07/28/2011

if you can't close you account don't leave more than a few dollars in there.

Pay Pal makes money on your money and they don't pay you interest for the use of your money

[Plasma003]

08:17 AM on 07/28/2011

Hackers are criminals that cost all of us REAL money. I want to see some of them go to jail for some serious hard time. Paypal provides a valuable service...

[supergranny]

11:13 AM on 07/28/2011

There are different types of hackers. This is not hacking against the individual.

have had one really bad experience with paypal 7 years ago and have not returned.

[SimianNation]

08:08 AM on 07/28/2011

Julian Assange gives private informatio­n away for free, and he is considered a criminal.

Mark Zuckerberg sells your private informatio­n and is Time's Person of the Year.

Really now, doesn't this seem a tad bit off?

[pjwrites]

07:19 AM on 07/28/2011

I'm with the hackers on this one. 18 years in prison for the one guy? More than for murder and just too much. Another example of overreaction by our fine leadership.
Besides, big corporations are anti-social psychopaths and they all need to be broken up or brought down.

[philprism]

06:16 AM on 07/28/2011

I boycotted paypal and amazon I try and use alternatives to visa and mastercard after they stopped payments to Wikileaks on behalf of the US government with no trial or judges ruling. This is how they will deal with you

bitcoin is becoming a popular alternative, use cash, its better for the stores too.

[Plasma003]

08:19 AM on 07/28/2011

I'll have to do a little more to make up for you. Wikileaks harms people and paypal is an awesome service..

Assange and Manning need to spend 50+ years in a nasty cell..

[philprism]

02:17 PM on 07/28/2011

Thats your choice, unfortunately the people who want to donate to have been prevented by an unconstitutional alliance of corporations.

Wikileaks are doing vital work and people are hearing the truth about their government often for the very first time.

We will just have to differ and I will have to work just that little bit harder to get the boycott PayPal movement going.

Good luck.

[arizonabay]

08:46 AM on 07/28/2011

But bitcoin got hacked last month. They must must've po'ed some hackers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/22/lulzsec-rogue-suspected-of-bitcoin-hack

[philprism]

04:42 AM on 07/29/2011

True, the server owners in that case were negligent, the rest of the network held up very well indeed despite the thieves trying to sell all their ill gotten gains in one go.

It is a testament to the resiliance of this new way of transferring money without paypal, visa or mastercard getting a very expensive cut.

[free reign]

05:54 AM on 07/28/2011

The Bradley Manning issue is a touchy one. I feel that our security, and the prisononers at Guantanamo, should be left alone. We need to boycott the foreign owned mega corps that pull the strings in Washington.
Boycott paypal, bail off from the big banks 11/12/11, have a rolling boycott of big oil cos.
Identify the owners of OUR representatives... END Citizens United.
These causes will rid the scurge and its symptoms, like the silencing of Wikileaks and the usurping of American's rights, and property.

[maxhnb]

05:53 AM on 07/28/2011

Are you kidding me ? Any banking facility that suspects you are doig something that may compromise their security, by contract, may cancel all services. Regions bank closed my business checking due to bad check being deposited, Even though the check wass replaced with cash. Hacking a banking system is a federal crime, and the bank is compelled to cooperate.

It's time people got smart about these organizations using public and private businesses to boost their lame egos. Ebay is a significant player in consumer economy. Eliminating it will jeopardize jobs and incomes of vendors and buys who use it. Anonymous is a business sabotage organization.