Troll poses as StarHub rep and causes ruckus in comments section during internet outage

The extended period of internet outage yesterday (April 16) was certainly not a fun thing to face for Starhub customers who needed network stability now more than ever while working and studying from home. The connection issues began a little after 11am and services were fully restored at 8:20am last night. 

But what kept others mildly amused and entertained was something that unfolded on the Downdetector comments section — a troll account impersonating a “StarHub Official” who went off on grumbling commenters with inane remarks. 

Also, a dramatic plot that supposedly featured a disorderly Starhub staff member called Dennis who gave up on giving a damn about his job. 

StarHub confirmed with AsiaOne that the shenanigans on Downdetector’s Disqus comments section widget yesterday were orchestrated by a troll account. Redditors were quick to highlight the incident on the Singapore subreddit.

The impersonator who went by “Starhub Official” used a tick emoji next to the username to imply that it was a verified account. Then it started taking on different personas that responded to genuinely aggrieved StarHub customers.

“Starhub Official” then went on a tangent by poking fun at commenters under the guise of a person named Dennis. Other supposed StarHub employees stepped in to stop Dennis from doing more damage, and a spectacle unfolded with Dennis picking fights with customers and fellow employees. 

Another employee Jackson then apologised for Dennis’ unprofessional actions and sought forgiveness from customers, but not before Dennis got fired. Mind you, this is all just play-pretend.

The mischief made its way onto Twitter with user @joeltkl getting over a thousand retweets with his screenshots. 

Dennis is my spirit animal!!!!!!!!! I forgive StarHub for your lack of network all afternoon for this entertainment series pic.twitter.com/FETlDeVVHM

— Joel Tay (@joeltkl) April 15, 2020

“That’s not us!”

StarHub directed us to a blog post on its community site by the company’s Digital CX Strategy Lead Howard Toh, who clarified that it was all an elaborate hoax perpetrated by an unknown internet troll. 

Setting the record straight, Toh showcased the various tell-tale signs of a fake account, including gibberish handles as well as the sham verification badge. 

”And obviously, we don't talk to our customers this way,” he concluded, reminding folks to always verify sources of internet posts.

Whatever the case, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is gravely concerned — but not about the troll. IMDA is currently conducting a probe into the two service disruptions to StarHub’s internet service yesterday and will take strong enforcement action against the telco should there be any errors made on their end. 

ilyas@asiaone.com