Social Media Turns Ugly: Haleeb Foods’ Facebook Page Hacked by Ad Agency

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Haleeb Foods
Picture of the post on Haleeb Food Facebook page.

Haleeb Foods is doing rounds on social media but not for the right reasons.

The Facebook page of Haleeb Foods was hacked by the very advertising agency that was responsible for its social media marketing. Viral Edge, the ad agency in question hacked the Facebook page on 8 November 2016. However, it wasn’t until 20 December that the Executives at Haleeb Foods realized the damage when Viral Edge posted an image proclaiming that the account had been suspended due to non-payment of dues.

Haleeb Food page hacked by Ad Agency
The unusual appeal called upon the fans to compel Haleeb Foods to clear the ad agency’s outstanding fees

While whatever grievances that Viral Edge had with their client, this clearly seems to be a breach of trust and a violation of professional ethics. Furthermore, sharing the contact details of Mr. Mansoor Nawaz the Marketing Director of Haleeb Foods was rather tacky.

When Bolo Jawan contacted Mr. Masnoor Nawaz, he confirmed the hacking of the Facebook page by Rizwan Ahmad, head of Viral Edge. He however, denied that his company owed any dues to Viral Edge and stated that they terminated the ad agency’s contract in May due to poor performance.

A brief statement shared by Haleeb Foods with Bolo Jawan stated:

“Management of Haleeb Foods Limited confirms the hacking of its official face book page, ‘Haleeb Foods Limited’ by Rizwan Ahmad of the digital agency, Viral Edge on November 8, 2016. Haleeb Foods Limited terminated the services agreement of Viral Edge in May 2016 and cleared all financial dues of the agency. We reject the assertions made by this digital agency of non-payment and have filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Investigation Agency, Cyber Crime Division. We condemn the hacking of our Facebook page and we now seek to initiate all appropriate legal actions/remedies available to Haleeb Foods Limited against Viral Edge.”

Whatever the outcome of this episode might be, Viral Edge has hammered the nail in its own coffin. Word spreads around quickly and no reputable company will is likely to trust the agency with their accounts and perhaps the existing clients might also reconsider their decision.

In the corporate world when a contract is awarded it outlines the terms for termination and in case of a dispute, it provides the window of arbitration. These channels are kept so that both parties can amicably resolve disputes. However, things seemed to have gone horribly wrong in this case.

On the part of Haleeb Foods it seems that the company failed to remove Viral Edge from Admin panel of their page, thus giving Viral Edge the window to cause mass embarrassment.

Note: Team Bolo Jawan tried to contact Virtual Edge, however the number given on their Facebook page was not responding and they did not respond to our messages on Facebook Messenger up until the filing of this post. Bolo Jawan will publish a follow-up story provided contact is established with the representatives of Viral Edge.