Promote it on… DM… scams?

danielerossi

I’ve been drawing a posting a comic strip on Instagram. One panel a day. I use a few hashtags which cause bots to immediately leave a comment saying things like “promote it on @(name of account)” or “DM @(name of account)”. I’ve been deleting these comments.

I check out the account and it’s other people’s posts. I think. I didn’t really check things out too closely as I figure if it was a legit account, they’d do the promoting themselves.

It’s always a different account each day but always the same wording. Clearly there’s something fishy. But I’m curious as to what could the scam be attempting to do? Enticing artists to talk to them in order to jump start social engineering?

Mia Clarke

@danielerossi It's a scam. The accounts have hugely inflated follower lists, and work by getting artists to pay to have their work promoted totheir bot followers. This is a thorough video explaining how they work in more detail.

Nyrryl Cadiz

@danielerossi another scam that i’ve gotten a few times is that of a fake organisation/ company that will offer you to become one of their ambassadors if you buy their product.

Previously, I had this “Save the Ocean” type of organisation DM me to buy their bracelet in order to fund their cause. I told them that I don’t wear jewelry so I won’t be buying anything but I’ll gladly repost and give shoutouts of their stuff. After that, they ghosted me. clearly all they wanted was for me to buy their product and not about spreading the word of their “cause”.

I received other forms of this scam throughout the years. You can definitely spot them a mile away

Kristen Lango

Yes be careful y'all! I just had a very elaborate scammer make their attempts with me:

insert curse word here
crazyyyyy

lpetiti

@Kristen-Lango It's that freaking Apraxia. That's a popular scam right now...

Mia Clarke

I got this one yesterday, which while obvoiously ludicrous, is also treacherous because if you google the name he shows up on Linkedin, on business-sounding podcasts, and in interviews, and so people who are new to scams might get roped in because the first page of google makes it sound legit, even if the idea is super sus and iffy.

lpetiti

@Mia-Clarke Oh my gosh I've gotten these emails too. What the heck is a "wearable" magazine anyway

kirsten-mcg

@Kristen-Lango Yikes! Thanks for sharing this! Scams keep getting more and more believable. I feel like the only way to fight back is to spread the word about them.

danielerossi

@Mia-Clarke I got that email! I was wondering what the heck is a wearable magazine? You have a magazine page printed on a t-shirt? So I googled them and my spider sense tingled. I deleted their email.

Kristen Lango

@kirsten-mcg absolutely!