Koji Miyoshi Targeted by Scam on Social Media

Midfielder Koji Miyoshi, who recently made a full transfer from English third division Birmingham City to Bundesliga (German first division) VfL Bochum in August 2024, was targeted by a scam on his social media account while he was expected to return to play for Borussia Dortmund in the fifth Bundesliga match on September 28.

The 27-year-old midfielder stepped up from the English third division to the German first division on the final day of the summer transfer window in 2024. On August 31, the day after the transfer was confirmed, he uploaded a photo of himself wearing a Birmingham uniform and expressed his gratitude to the Birmingham supporters. However, he was inundated with critical and abusive messages in Arabic, with the number of messages reaching close to 10,000.

The incident occurred due to a misunderstanding involving a Japanese team of referees in the FIFA World Cup North and Central America Asian Final Qualifiers between Kuwait and Iraq. Japanese referee Hiroyuki Kimura showed a red card to Iraqi defender Levin Sulaka, which led to an Iraqi supporter mistaking Miyoshi for Kimura and spamming the player’s Instagram post.

Despite Arabic posts calling for an end to the abusive messages, the trolling by Iraqi supporters continued. This incident highlights the risks of social media harassment and the importance of verifying information before reacting.

This is not the first time a Japanese player has been targeted by social media harassment. In January 2022, Japanese midfielder Junya Ito was the target of attacks from the Middle East after updating his Instagram. He received a series of abusive messages from Saudi Arabian supporters before the kickoff of the match against Saudi Arabia on February 1.