ATEEZ Makes “Rookie Mistake” With Latest Promotion—Their “Fix” Under Massive Fire

13 hours ago 10

Someone completely unrelated has fallen victim to the reckless promotion.

5 minutes ago

For their 7th debut anniversary, ATEEZ put together a special pop-up to celebrate with their fans. It was at this pop-up, however, that someone unrelated to the K-Pop idol fell victim to a poorly planned promotional event.

At the pop-up, the boy group’s management company, KQ Entertainment, distributed small promotional flyers with a phone number printed on them. As these were handed out at the official pop-up as part of the official promotion, some fans assumed it was a part of the celebration and called the number—expecting it to be part of fan interaction.

Unfortunately, the number belonged to a Korean citizen who has since taken to X and begged for all the fan calls to stop. Not associated with KQ Entertainment or the pop-up event, and not even a fan of the group, the victim shared that they’ve “been under severe stress” due to what has happened.

에이티즈 전단지에 제 전화번호가 제 동의 없이 적혀 있다는 친구의 제보를 받았습니다.
원본 트윗이 삭제된 경위로 이곳에 인용을 답니다.
저는 그 행사와 아무 관련이 없는 일반인입니다.
그 이후로 모르는 번호로 계속 전화, 문자, 카톡이 오고 있습니다. https://t.co/qDtrJZoSqD

— 그만 전화해주세요 (@plscallstop) October 17, 2025

너무 갑작스럽고 두려운 상황이라 이렇게 글을 올립니다. 많은 분들의 도움과 이해 부탁드립니다.
혹시 전단 사진이나 배포 경로를 아시는 분이 있다면 제보도 정말 큰 도움이 됩니다.
아래는 뒷받침 사진입니다. pic.twitter.com/Y1WGpvSP3d

— 그만 전화해주세요 (@plscallstop) October 17, 2025

I received a message from a friend informing me that my phone number was printed on an ATEEZ flyer without my consent. Since the original tweet has been deleted, I’m posting this here instead. I’m an ordinary person with no connection whatsoever to that event. Since then, I’ve been getting constant calls, texts, and KakaoTalk messages from unknown numbers.

I’ve been under severe stress as my daily life has become unbearable due to dozens of phone calls ringing every single day. This number is my personal contact, and it has absolutely no connection to any promotion or event. Please do not call this number, and if you have seen the flyer or any related posts, I kindly ask you to delete them or stop sharing them.

This all happened so quickly and out of the blue. It has been very frightening, so I’m posting this message. I ask for everyone’s understanding and help. If anyone knows about the flyer image or how it was distributed, any information would be a huge help.

— Victim

For a lot of K-Pop fans following the situation, though, it was the non-apologetic “fix” that made the entire situation baffling. Initially, neither ATEEZ nor KQ Entertainment issued any apology to the victim.

Instead, a brief notice was shared via an account for the pop-up, asking fans to refrain from calling or texting the phone number. Referring to the phone number as a “design purpose,” the notice admitted that “the actual owner of this number has no relation to this pop-up event.”

📍[성화방 포스터 연락처, 뉴스레터 연락처 관련 안내]

포스터 및 뉴스레터 디자인상으로 표현된 숫자입니다.
해당 번호의 실제 소유자는 본 팝업과 무관한 번호이므로, 실제 해당 번호로 연락이나 문의 전화를 하지 않도록 부탁드립니다.
(실제 통화 시 개인정보 침해 및 불필요한 피해가 발생할… pic.twitter.com/U3IEM9q57U

— ATEEZ 8ROOM (@ATEEZ_8ROOM) October 17, 2025

Online reactions were, as expected, ruthless.

“Should’ve used the CEO’s number.”
“This is such a rookie mistake. How could they not think of that?!”
“Wow, it’s literally the most basic thing to consider LOL. And they haven’t even apologized? So rude. Can’t the victim get compensated?”
“Are they out of their minds?”
“This kind of thing has happened so many times in the entertainment industry. How can they say they didn’t know? They should be taken to court for this.”
“How many times has something like this already caused an uproar, and they still haven’t learned?”
“Calling it a design element is insane. They literally wrote the number out like +82-10-xxxx. How could they not think it might be someone’s number? It’s shocking. And look at how rude their notice is when there’s an actual victim.”
“What if that person works in sales or something and can’t even change their number? Why would they do that…”
“Phone-number marketing like this has caused problems before. It’s crazy they still thought it was okay to use it.”

The pop-up account has since posted a more formal statement, stating that it had reached out to the victim and apologized, as well as disposing of the related material.

Still, K-Pop fans remain unimpressed at the “rookie mistake” made by the company when there have been countless similar cases in the past that it could have learned from.

“Legendary.”
“Please press charges, seriously. How did no one say anything until those flyers were actually printed and handed out at the event? Is that company full of idiots?”
“If you come up with a number starting with 010, of course it’s going to belong to someone…”
“Wow.”
“Did they really need to make it that obvious they’re still a small company? There’s a reason why people usually block or use fake numbers for events like this… This is such careless handling. They could’ve at least used a staff member’s number.”
“They’re out of their minds.”
“This is just unbelievable.”
“Why on earth would they do that?”
“What were they thinking?!”
“There are virtual numbers like 070 for things like this. Did no one think of that?”
“I can’t believe we’re still seeing this kind of stupidity… I was shocked by this twenty years ago, and they’re still doing it??”