Bank of America gets punked online
A phony Google+ site that appeared to belong to the bank has been taken down, creating embarrassment for B of A and Google.
Pranksters created a fake website for the bank on the Google+ social network this month, posting unflattering pictures of executives and snarky status updates.
The site appeared to be legitimate, with the bank's logo and contact information. But a description that read "We took your bailout money and your mortgage rates are going up" and updates such as "Big company party in foreclosed house #2340087 tonight!" were dead giveaways that the bank had been punked.
The site is down now, but you can see an archived image here.
The pranksters introduced the bank by writing: "We are committed to making as much money as possible from usury, coercion, bribery, insider trading, extortion and debit card fees as possible." That last part referred to the $5 monthly debit card fee that Bank of America was considering but then canceled amid a public uproar.
The page was created earlier this month, as soon as Google (GOOG) opened the business pages on its Google+ network. Several companies have created wonderful pages on the site, including Toyota (TM) and Macy's (M). You can see Pepsi's (PEP) Google+ page here.
The fake Bank of America page is an embarrassment for the bank and for Google, which appears not to verify pages as the real thing. The attackers seem to have tricked Google into giving them a business page under the bank's name, notes the Naked Security blog.
Some marketing professionals are saying the bank has been "brandjacked" -- a type of attack that is getting easier with all the ways companies can connect with customers online.
"It was exactly this kind of parody that Google+ was hoping to avoid by only allowing real names to be used when it launched, and the high-profile nature of this example suggests a return to forced authenticity," writes Time magazine's Graeme McMillan. "Way to ruin it for everyone again, Bank of America."
I'm not so sure that what it said is too far from the truth. Are we really sure it got punked or maybe one of the recently laid off workers decided to get a bit of revenge?
Or, maybe one of the fat PIGS who got a $600,000 bonus check last year found out that this year, because they had to reverse the Debit Card Fee, their bonus was going to be reduced to $450,000.
Keep leaving Bank of America. Don't let their decision to dump the Debit Card Fee make you think for one minute they are concerned about their customers. Their obvious devotion to spending more time finding new fees and ways to screw customers over, versus hiring people and making the company run efficiently says it all. I switched to BECU in August, adn in 3 months, I have received more money in interest on my accounts than I did in the last 3 YEARS at Bank of UNAmerica.
BOA for BOA constrictor. Yeah, Love it. I think of BOA more as:
Bunch of A**holes.
The word on the street after the Joplin tornado was that Bank of America was the worst offender of taking advantage of their customers who lost their homes. It was reported that BOA held on to peoples ' insurance check money as long as they could.
Yes, I think this company is a soulless scum.
This kind of outrage is what the Occupy Wall Street movement is all about.
I also could not agree more with the taking down of these big bankers (called Robber Barons in the old days just before the great Depression/Meltdown) screw B of A. I look forward to them ALL being punked in some way or another.
And for you "share" holders, why not invest in something that doesn't rip off your fellow americans!! shame on you all for agreeing with how your "investment" screwed your neighbor and fellow american. Where are your ethics?
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