An analysis of hacked data from the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo suggests more than $20,000 in donations came from Comox Valley residents.
Earlier this week, crowdfunding website GiveSendGo was hacked after it gained widespread use in collecting funds for truckers blocking downtown Ottawa and Canada/U.S. borders across the country.
The person or persons who hacked the website posted the data of people that donated to the trucker convoy cause. The data included email addresses, names, postal codes, IP addresses, personalized messages to the truckers and amounts donated. No credit card information was leaked and no money was stolen, the GiveSendGo site confirmed. After the hack, GiveSendGo said its security team immediately shut down the website to prevent further damage.
Based on postal codes filed with the donations, nearly 150 people in the Comox Valley contributed to the convoy protests and illegal blockades.
According to the document, 92 donations came from people using a Courtenay (V9N/V9J) postal code, totalling $16,955 for an average donation of nearly $185. Another 51 donations came from people using a Comox (V9M) postal code, totaling $3,505 - an average of approximately $68.75 per donation.
There were a couple of donations from the unincorporated communities, and one from a Cumberland postal code.
The largest single donation associated with a Comox Valley V9N postal code was one of $5,000.
People who made a donation were not obligated to provide their real name, email address or postal code. Some of the information could be fake or submitted under an alias. With that in mind, the Comox Valley Record will not be publishing any names associated with the donations.
Many of the donors sent messages of support to the convoy, along with their contributions.
“Dear truckers, thank you all for standing up for our rights and freedoms,” wrote one person, along with an $80 donation. “I have been waiting for this moment for almost two years, but I have to admit I never imagined it would be you truckers standing up for all Canadians. I’m ever so grateful for all that you do. You have my full support, as well as that of millions of Canadians and people from around the globe. Thank you, thank you!!!!”
“Finally proud to be a Canadian again, thank you so much for all you’ve done,” was another message sent, along with $100. “This is showing the world how to reclaim the power back to the people in a non-violent way. We are all love, we all want to be free, its time for us to all to unite and stand together against the tyranny of these corporate owned governments!!!”
Before GiveSendGo’s website was hacked, more than 36,000 people who donated, or 36 per cent, were from Canada, while 56 per cent came from the U.S. Two per cent came from the United Kingdom and the remaining three per cent came from more than 100 other countries.
There were more than 92,000 listed donations in total.
The data shows that Canadians donated the largest amount of money at $5.4 million (CAD), while residents in the U.S. donated $4.5 million.
-With files from Aaron Hinks/Peace Arch News
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terry.farrell@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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