It must be acknowledged that with the development of social media, especially Facebook in Vietnam, online sales livestreams are popping up more than ever. It seems that the online sales trend in Vietnam is being “exported” everywhere, as yesterday afternoon, the online community was taken by surprise when the verified fanpage of the Japanese Professional Football League (J-League) transformed into a Vietnamese online sales fanpage thanks to the hands of hackers.
It is known that on December 17, this fanpage was still operating normally, but just a day later, it was attacked and taken over by Vietnamese hackers. In fact, the videos even had titles in Vietnamese with various content such as “Clearing out the entire stock…”, or “99K CLEARANCE SALE ON SHIRTS”, while the female character dressed provocatively during the livestream continuously invited buyers in Vietnamese, leading many to mistakenly believe that this was an online sales livestream page commonly seen on Facebook.
In fact, this is not the first time that Vietnamese hackers have acted so brazenly. A previous incident that also gained significant attention was when former Chelsea player Branislav Ivanovic had his personal fanpage hacked to livestream online sales. Even more outrageous, this hacker continuously made playful remarks such as “I know how to hack but not how to pay back”.
It can be seen that the fanpages targeted by Vietnamese hackers mostly already have a verified badge. According to Facebook’s policy, these pages typically represent major brands, celebrities, or influential figures with a large following, making it easier to reach a wider audience and more suitable for online sales livestreams.
As of now, the fanpage of the Japanese Professional Football League (J-League) has returned to normal operation with only football-related content. However, this recent incident has been strongly criticized by the Vietnamese online community, who believe that such reckless hackers will only tarnish the image of the Vietnamese online community.