Curiosity is simply part of human nature — the more private soмєтнing is, the more it fuels people’s curiosity. At the same time, in exchange for the spotlight of fame, celebrities are forced to accept that their private lives no longer belong entirely to them and are constantly placed under the public’s microscope. This is precisely what has given rise to countless invasions of celebrities’ privacy, as well as concepts such as paparazzi, stalkers, and sasaeng fans.
And BTS is a prime example of this! Not only do the members face being followed wherever they go, but they also have to live with constant anxiety over their personal information being leaked and illegally sold. Fans likely still remember when Jungkook’s home address and phone number were leaked, leading to him being harαѕѕed during livestreams and even having obsessive fans send food directly to his home.
Another notable case involved RM, whose personal information and travel schedule were secretly accessed by a Korail employee 18 times over the course of three years. The employee abused their authority to access private information such as RM’s address, phone number, phone model, train schedules, and more, with the intention of meeting the idol in person. The employee even informed friends so they could book seats on the same train near him.
Having witnessed their idol become the victim of information leaks time and time again, ARMYs have always been highly vigilant about privacy violations. That is why news of a recent incident involving RM’s bank account information being leaked immediately sparked a fierce wave of outrage.
Specifically, on the 19th, fans discovered that a bank employee named Nazia had posted on Facebook: “Namjoon has hanpαѕѕ account” and introduced herself as a “county manager” working at Hanpαѕѕ. She later added a comment saying, “What do you mean by I have his number now. But will never give anyone never”, implying that she had RM’s phone number from the customer data records. In another comment, when referring to the BTS members, she continued: “I am pretty sure every one of them has”.
These posts immediately triggered fierce backlash from ARMYs. The employee had clearly abused her position to access RM’s personal information — soмєтнing considered strictly off-limits in the industry. Not only did she allegedly access customer information without authorization, but she also publicly disclosed the service RM uses and mentioned having his phone number on an account with around 70,000 followers. Fans also pointed out that such actions could directly compromise the members’ safety and privacy while they are still in the U.S.
After the backlash intensified, Nazia deleted her original post but continued responding to fans. In response to a comment criticizing her lack of professionalism, she explained that she deleted the post as soon as she realized it might constitute a data privacy violation. She also claimed that she only later realized the person mentioned might not actually be RM because the name Namjoon is very common in кσяєα. However, this explanation only made matters worse, as it showed that she had “looked up information about a BTS member on the company’s internal system” on her own — which is precisely the serious data privacy violation at the heart of the issue.
Meanwhile, fans also accused Nazia of deliberately “clout chasing” by using RM’s personal information to attract attention. She may have achieved her goal of gaining publicity, but it remains uncertain whether she will be able to keep her position as a county manager. The fact that someone in a senior position would engage in such unprofessional conduct has dealt a serious blow to Hanpαѕѕ’ reputation. The incident has also caused many customers to lose confidence in the company’s data security system — a system that should, above all else, prioritize the protection of customers’ personal information.
As a result, a wave of calls for Hanpαѕѕ to investigate Nazia and take action has spread, with the following message: "Hello @HANPASS1@HanpαѕѕMY @Hanpαѕѕpurchase. I am formally reporting an internal data breach by your employee, Nazia. This individual is abusing corporate system access to compromise a public figure's personal data, directly violating the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA). Please investigate immediately."
Fans and even other netizens found the employee’s actions completely unacceptable, expressing their outrage: "It’s worse. As manager, she should understand data security violations", "Wtf she is doing. Just banned her immediately", "Oh wow ! This h3lla girl such a stupid! Eliminate her already for this so called “manager”… BREACH OF VIOLATION AND PDPA!", "Report on hybe portal, LinkedIn", "These people are fcked in the head", "She should be fired and kicked out of the country", "how many more privacy breaches would namjoon have to endure before he’s forced to become completely guarded about his life?", "Sigh... the level of mentally ill stans has reached a criminal level. Crazy b1tch, I hope your life falls apart!",...
