Has Bank of America Been Hacked over New Debit Card Fee?

By Peter Jamison Fri., Sep. 30 2011 at 12:55 PM

MoneyBlogNewz via Flickr

Breaking the bank

In yet another possible sign that hacking is the most popular pastime among antisocial American youth since Magic: The Gathering, the Bank of America website is experiencing technical difficulties that some are speculating could be part of a reprisal for its announcement of a new fee on debit-card users.

B of A announced the $5 monthly fee for customers who make debit-card purchases yesterday, prompting a storm of criticism for what Gawker memorably dubbed a "negative interest rate."

Today, the bank's home page is "temporarily unavailable," according to the message that greets visitors landing on the page.

A BofA spokesperson told the Associated Press that the problems are "not the result of hacking," and no hacker group has claimed responsibility for an attack on the site.

The timing of the difficulties inevitably raises questions, however; anyone following the news over the past month has become accustomed to cyber-attacks on organizations that run afoul of the hacking group Anonymous -- whether the organization be BART or the news site Talking Points Memo. We'll have to stay tuned to see whether similar web vigilantism is at work here.

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Tags:

Anonymous, Ban of America, debit cards, hacking

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Citizen Poor

Just got a letter, my debit card was compromised. Gave me a new one to activate. It was compromised by an undisclosed third party application.

Network Security Software

They could easily be getting DDOSed by an organization like Anonymous. It wouldn't be out of the ordinary as they have proven themselves more than capable of pulling a stunt like this. But even if that is the case it won't last long, B of A has way too much money for something like a DDOS attack to effect there homepage. And I hope everyone who uses B of A is switching to a different bank. I can't believe how the banks are trying to take advantage of their patrons especially after we bailed them out a couple years ago. But I guess no one is as greedy as a bank...

Guest

Mike Yevtuck is the God of the USA hells angelsUSA Hells angels are out of shape pathetic cowards.I guess that could enplain why some punk is using my name to make comments.I beat up and pisss all over USA hells angels every chance I get and I guess this is how the punks get even

Felix Branson

Well, of course BofA and all other banks will find ways to make up for their lost revenues. Did anyone really expect them to cheerfully write off their losses and move on? Whoever did expect that probably also believed that retailers will be passing their savings on to their customers. Ever since the Fed cut the debit interchange fees it was obvious to anyone who was paying attention that consumers will end up footing the bill. http://blog.unibulmerchantserv...

FigDoo

lol, big Middle Finger Salute to Bank of America! Boo yah

real-privacy.edu.tc

Emmapearl

If Bank America 's website problems stem from it's pending charges on usage of debit , the hackers anger is misplace and really dumb. They should be hacked off at the Dodd-Frank bill, a democrat back bill, for being a stupid enough to think the banks are not going to pass the losses to its customers is ridiculous. Who in the heck do these politicians think their over regulations are going to affect? They can regulate fuel with taxes and gas prices go up, they regulate by taxing any business and the consumers are going to have to pay. When will people wake up and see what fools they by continue to elect these idiots.

Roy Davis

Shame on all the major news outlets!!!! Why are you not covering this story? Obviously something major is going down at BoA, hack or not, and you all are standing around with your thumbs up yer butt. Get on this story!!! The site have been down for two days now. When I called BoA yesterday morning when this first started, they told me they were doing a "software upgrade". Ya right! Companies never do software upgrades on Friday mornings. Then later in the day I called back and was told they have no idea what the problem is, and no ETA for getting back online. The BoA "spokeswoman" is full of shiz, saying the site was back up and everything is ok when clearly the site was still down as she was saying that.

Clintune

ouch, A pot shot at Magic? Was someone rejected by the magic nerds around the lunch room table? lol

Rick

2 days later and I still can't log into my account. I think it's a hack attack.

Guest

People should pull their accounts and stop doing business with B of A.

Luciferxf

It is more of the age where something goes wrong. They blame Anonymous. It could simply be something like a database corruption or faulty hardware. Just remember to blame Anonymous. Because you know. They are a bunch of script kiddies and we all know to watch out for them script kiddies!

Johny C.

i dont think they can be hacked its off high security

Roy Davis

Hey "video games", go wiki "Denial of Service attack" and educate yourself. I think you'll change your opinion.

Rick

The US govt gets hacked, what makes you think BofA has better security?

Francisco Garcia Jr

Been trying to get into my account for 2 days now, no dice. They've been hacked no doubt. The consumer should be angry, BofA got bailed out for being greedy and now they are doing it again. But they had a plan all along. Bnaks introduced the debit card as an alternative to the credit card and a better way to use money than checks. The banks herded the consumer into the debit card lifestyle and now they come to slaughter the consumer with fees...When will the cosnumer fight back to all this greed in America? Enough is enough

Prince_Khan

No ones holding a gun to our heads saying "Dont use cash". Throw out the debit and credit cards and make the bank count, transport and store actual cash-see how they like the "convenience fee"!!