Fake followers on Instagram – a nasty business
9/5/2023
Translation: Veronica Bielawski
To have a million people see your picture on Instagram? Such is the dream of every small account. I paid money for it – and wound up with nothing but problems.
The request I got seemed innocent enough. DM us your beautiful photo of a fish on Instagram, we’ll repost it on fishing.life, they said. This isn’t unusual in and of itself; there are various pages on Instagram that collect and repost pictures on topics such as food, fitness, beauty, travel or even fishing.
But this is different. I send them the photo, but they don’t simply repost it. Instead, I receive a message with an offer. fishing.life promises to give me a shoutout – for a small sum of money. This on an account with a million followers.
$35 will buy you 2,000 followers
A shoutout means my picture will be published as a post and story with me tagged. The Gold package for $35 can supposedly easily land me 2,000 new followers. Sounds promising. So, tens of thousands of fishing fans from all over the world will see my post and some of them will then follow me, right? At least that’s how I imagine it works.
Source: Lorenz Keller
It also sounds cleaner than simply buying followers, which, according to a Google search, is easy to do for about 15 francs per 1,000 followers.
I’m aware of the risks and suspect that not everything is above board. Out of curiosity, I decided to go for the deal regardless – also because payment via PayPal is possible. That way, the recipient at least won’t get my credit card data, which they could use for mischievous pursuits. Of course, the money might still end up gone with no service in return (would PayPal’s buyer protection even apply?).
But the provider keeps their promise. Around 24 hours later, my picture, tag and all, appears on fishing.life. Bam. Immediately, I start gaining followers, my smartphone vibrating incessantly. So this is how successful influencers feel… Within a few hours, my following grows from 700 to over 2,600. My photo featuring a Black Bass receives 14,000 likes on fishing.life.
Source: Lorenz Keller
But I only ride the wave of elation for a short while until reality catches up with me. Taking a closer look, I realise that my new fans aren’t fishing enthusiasts from all over the world. No; they’re accounts that look suspiciously similar to each other.
Most new followers had exactly 14 or 15 posts, often the same image repeated. The accounts have only a dozen followers each but follow 2,000 to 4,000 other accounts. No question: these are all fake accounts.
I’m not the only one to fall for the scam
I have a lot of new followers – on paper. However, they neither look at my photos nor videos, nor do they comment or like posts. So, if I wanted to earn money with my account as a micro-influencer, this «growth» would be utterly useless.
What’s more, my fake follower purchase has an annoying consequence. To be fair, the owner of fishing.life had warned me about it, but only after my purchase. I get dozens more offers to purchase followers, informing me that I could also post my picture on fitness or food pages and continue to build my following of bots. It’s just about buying followers now; there’s no need to wrap it up in a thematic bow.
By the way, I’m not the only one to have tried out the tempting offer fallen for the scam. There are hundreds of posts from real people on the promoting pages. Since the operators proceed skilfully, maintain their pages well and, at least initially, write to Instagram users with suitable content, it’s likely that not everyone was aware of the deal they were really making.
Source: Lorenz Keller
For 35 dollars, I got around 2,000 bots. They each follow thousands of real Instagram users. It seems reasonable to assume that these are people who have also paid for the miraculous multiplication of followers.
My verdict? I’m 35 francs poorer, but a few experiences richer. The experiment proves just how little the number of followers means. I’ve also saddled myself with a few hours of extra work; eventually, I’ll clean up my profile, that is, delete the bots one by one.
If you want to grow your community in an honest and sustainable (and slow) way, there’s only one method: limit yourself to one or two key topics, post photos and videos regularly, and engage in networking. Or – like I am – simply be content with using your account for a small community of friends and acquaintances.
Header image: Lorenz Keller
Lorenz Keller
Senior Editor
Lorenz.Keller@digitecgalaxus.chGadgets are my passion - whether you need them for the home office, for the household, for sport and pleasure or for the smart home. Or, of course, for the big hobby next to the family, namely fishing.
