Far-right Project Veritas claims it was defrauded of $165,000 by hoaxsters
Project Veritas, the far-right group known for its "gotcha" attacks on everyone from Planned Parenthood to National Public Radio, was recently the target of online hackers — who, according to founder James O'Keefe, defrauded the group of $165,000.
O'Keefe, in an announcement on Monday, said that hackers posing as attorneys for Project Veritas convinced employees to transfer funds out of its bank account.
"So, we received an invoice for $165,000 from a few of our attorneys, and we intended to pay that invoice; so, we set up wire transfers for payment," explained O'Keefe, who founded Veritas in 2010. "Within an hour, the lawyers reached out to us, asking us to pay the invoice via a new account they had set up."
EXERCISE IN RESILIENCE: Veritas attacked from all angles - Hackers STEAL $165,000 - Denial of Service attacks posing as \u201cdonations\u201d - FBI shuts down School Board meeting with Natomas parents but law enforcement is yet to open investigation into crimes being committed against PVpic.twitter.com/oLZvp4ZcEk— veritastips@protonmail.com\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 (@veritastips@protonmail.com\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8) 1631543095
According to O'Keefe, the hackers appeared to be monitoring his correspondence with real Veritas attorneys.
O'Keefe announced, "They actually impersonated the actual name of our lawyer, changing a few letters in the e-mail address, replying in real-time to an e-mail chain with our actual attorneys. It appears the fraudsters were watching, waiting for an invoice to be sent to us and then pounced — impersonating them, replying to a real e-mail as the lawyer's name the moment the invoice came."
