A Brief On These
Accounts
These accounts have similar usernames, a bio that induce you
to click on a shortened version of Linktree URL, a handful of pictures and some
creepy highlights.
These accounts usually don’t have many pictures except for a
few half or almost naked women, covered in lingerie or bikinis. The bio,
however, says some intense seductive lines and advices people to follow every
one of their followers in order to receive a direct message (DM) regarding how
they could meet / hook-up (which, by the way, doesn't happen).
Where Does The Linktree URL Lead To?
If you click on the URL, the page will be directed to a
bunch of shady websites like ‘Finder’, ‘MyCuteGirlfriends’. When you enter the
site, it will ask your personal details like email id, password in order to
sign-up for an account and the next step is to pay in order to get a
membership.
All these websites are fake and are developed only to loot
money. The site uses reverse psychology and decoying questions to allure people
into signing-up.
Similar Fake Accounts With Different Purpose
There are some unsafe accounts that emphasize on making users
‘insta-famous’ with millions of followers in a short span. They even allot
specific amount for every thousand followers. The prices are usually in USD and
the payments are transacted using PayPal or Cash app.
There is yet another
group that mention to sell the blue checkmark that is used by famous
personalities. Of course, anyone can apply for it from the apps but people who
don’t know about this fall into the scam.
How Did It Begin?
Busy Entrepreneurs determined to save their time by making
bots to like, comment and follow other accounts. But any sort of using
automation apps are strictly against Instagram policies and this can get you
banned from using the app.
Some of the most popular bots for Instagram were
MassPlanner, FollowLiker and Instagress. The features of these bots were
auto-follow, follow-back, unfollow, auto-like, auto-comment and deleting posts.
#NoBotsBy2020
This hashtag was trending last year in Instagram and an
account called “Bot Police” was created in order to track these fake accounts
and report them. This step was taken after someone wrote ‘These damn bots are
getting out of hands @Instagram. Do something about it Zucks’.
Instagram replied, “We’ve built machine learning tools to
help identify accounts that use these services and remove the inauthentic
activity”, in a blog post in 2018.
So, the aim is to remove all bot accounts by the end of
2020; let’s hope it happens.
How To Identify A Bot
Account?
- The account has unusual numbers in the username (ex : @velista61)
- Account activity is very drastic
- The profile pictures are usually empty, hidden or copied.
- Spammy, irrelevant and clueless comments.
If you think an account is fake, do report it. Also, here’s
the answer to my question; the bot comments get likes due to the inappropriate
message, appear on top of the list and the cycle continues.
Written by - Keerthana Lakshmi
0 Comments