[Freeciv-Dev] [Fwd: Announce: AbiWord Fund Robbed]

[Martin Willemoes Hansen <mwh@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi!

I just read this on the abiword mailinglist, I know that we too use
paypal, maybe we should not?

For one I think we should boycut them, now when they are so insecure.

What do you think?
-- 
Martin Willemoes Hansen

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E-Mail  mwh@xxxxxxxx    Website mwh.sysrq.dk
IRC     MWH, freenode.net       
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To:	abiword-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc:	abiword-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject:	Announce: AbiWord Fund Robbed
From:	Dom Lachowicz <doml@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:	Fri, 25 Oct 2002 10:09:08 -0400

I'm duty bound to let you all know that the AbiWord Fund/Tip Jar has been robbed approximately three weeks ago. I'm telling you this now, rather than sooner, since I believed that Paypal would do something about my complaints during the interim, and that this would all be resolved quietly. Today, 23 days later, this does not look like it will happen.

Despite my repeated phone calls, emails, faxes, etc... to Paypal, I have not heard a response from them, let alone a positive one where they say "you're getting your money back." They have not even acknowledged my complaint tickets with so much as an automated email.

Paypal is not a bank, so they do not operate under the same rules and conditions as a bank (let alone the government regulations and FDIC stuff), and as such, I have minimal recourse against them at the moment. Their silence implies to me that they are treating this matter as if I got mugged on the street, rather than as if someone walked into their bank and withdrew my money without my consent. What further enrages me is that someone tried to withdraw $1200 from my credit card the day before. Thankfully, that party failed.

Evidence of this is http://www.abisource.com/~dom/paypal_scam.png

I *do not* recommend emailing Jun Jiang, as his camera was bought illegally using our money. He is a victim of this too, albeit to a much lesser extent. I do however, recommend doing several things:

1) Writing to Paypal, in letter, email, or fax form alerting them to this travesty.

2) Calling Paypal on AbiWord's behalf.

3) Writing or calling your Congressman/woman, pointing out that Paypal is acting like a bank, but not operating under formal banking laws. 4) Boycotting Paypal because of these reasons, and the fact that their system is notoriously insecure, and encouraging others to do the same.

More information on how to do so, including some horror stories are available at http://www.paypalsucks.com

My username: cinamod@xxxxxxxxxxx
Paypal transaction number: #42V44263PP357062S
Ebay transaction number: #1383584373

FYI, the Fund is currently at $206 instead of about $800 thanks to this cretin. This puts a serious damper on my hopes of re-establishing a bi-weekly patch prize.

And to whomever stole nearly $600 from an OpenSource, not-for-profit organization's bank account to buy a lousy camera, FUCK YOU. Pond scum now has something to look down upon. Orphans and elderly women beware! Enjoy your new SONY PEG-NR70V CLIиж PDA /MP3/Camera

Regretfully,
Dom

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