Measure_for_Measure:
I’ve wondered about this. My latest 41 followers are fake. Some have links indicating they are porn-bots. But others appear to be placeholders. I’m guessing following other accounts makes you less likely to be auto-banned by twitter. At some point the placeholders will be sold to other bad actors, who will benefit from the aged join date. Or maybe it’s just a private stockpile held in case the porn bots with links experience a mass banning.
They usually give a comment of mine a like, then a follow. The follow often happens immediately after I check their profile. How do they know that? Maybe it’s an artifact of the way twitter’s dataset updates itself.
ETA: They want me to follow back. Then they can proceed with further shenanigans. Duh.
It’s probably a pig-slaughter scam.
John Oliver kills it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLPpl2ISKTg
10, 20, or 30 years ago, scamming relied upon either the stupidity of its victims or -less emphasized- hitting the vics at a vulnerable time of their life, due to old age or a sequence of bad luck, so that good judgment was suspended. Send out 10 million messages, get 1 million prospects and maybe 100 hits. Though 10 will do. Or even one.
This scam operates at a higher level. It’s a slower burn: The idea is to reel you in with …
About 9 out of 10 of my recent followers are fake, based on today’s count. That doesn’t include former followers who have had their accounts cancelled. While some of the fakers are porn-bots, most of them are either placeholders or pig slaughterers. I’m guessing mostly the latter. I-yi-yi.