With the rise of social media, especially Facebook in Vietnam, online livestream shopping has exploded like never before. It seems this trend is going global, because just yesterday, netizens were stunned to see the verified fanpage of Japan’s professional soccer league, the J-League, turned into a Vietnamese livestream shopping page thanks to some clever hackers.
On December 17, the fanpage was still running normally, but just a day later, it was hacked by Vietnamese hackers who took over the admin rights. The videos even had Vietnamese titles like “Clearance Sale of Entire Stock…” and “99K Shirt Blowout,” while a female host dressed provocatively kept inviting viewers to buy products in Vietnamese. Many people were fooled into thinking it was just another typical Vietnamese livestream shopping page on Facebook.
This isn’t the first time Vietnamese hackers have gone this far. A similar well-known case involved former Chelsea star Branislav Ivanovic, whose personal fanpage was hacked to livestream online sales. The hacker even mocked the situation with comments like “Know how to hack but don’t know how to give it back.”
Most of the fanpages targeted by Vietnamese hackers have blue verification badges. According to Facebook’s policy, these pages usually represent big brands, celebrities, or influencers with large followings, making them perfect targets for livestream shopping scams because they can reach a wide audience.
As of now, the J-League fanpage is back to normal, focusing solely on soccer content. However, this incident sparked strong criticism from the Vietnamese online community, who say these careless hackers only damage the reputation of Vietnam’s internet users.
