Influencer insists their account was bought fake followers

Instagram Marketing
#1

Hi there,

one of the influencers we are working with insists that she was “given”, or “bought” fake followers. I am not sure whether this true or not… is this even possible without loging in?

This was her comment after I told her she has 40% mass followers (we are using the platform that uses an algorithm to identify fake people).

Does anyone have experience with this?

#2

It is not necessary at all so have the credentials of an account to buy it fake followers/likes.

I know a couple of influencers who received fake followers/likes without ordering them.

One got contacted by some shady agency offering their services. After she refused they send her fake followers saying look how fast we can grow your account…

Another one just received fake followers out of nowhere. No idea where it came from. Maybe a competitor…

Both slightly changed their usernames to avoid it. It worked for them, but if the person who sends you the fake followers/likes really wants to annoy you this of course can’t stop him.

1 Like
#3

As @Phago said, it’s definitely possible. All they need to know is your username to give you a fake following. But in the end, you have to consider this:

  1. If you want to use that influencer for shoutout or a brand mention (i.e. you are mainly concerned with reach of the account), then it is useless to do it with an account with fake followers because their engagement rates are probably low. If the engagement is high even with fake followers, then it might still be worth it. Can your tool tell you if the post likers are also fake?

  2. If you want to work with the influencer to create content which you will then use on your own handle, then the fake followers really don’t matter much, do they? They will create HQ content no matter what followers they have on their profile.

  3. How long ago can you see that the fake followers were added to the profile? If it was, say, a year back, then the question is: Why didn’t the influencer take the time out and put the effort into blocking the fake followers?

If you answer these questions, I guess you’ll be able to decide what to do about the influencer.

1 Like
#4

what platform?

#5

Have tried this service a couple of times and its seems quite accurate: https://hypeauditor.com
Costs you one fake email address per report :wink:

2 Likes
#6

I use this service, for me is the best

#7

We are using the platform Influee.co
it’s very new and still developing so it doesn’t have many features, if you have any good (and cheaper) alternatives, feel free to suggest. :slight_smile:

I also checked the hypeauditor and it really looks like some followers were added just recently.

Unfortunately, the tool is not able to tell whether the likes and comments are coming from real people. I think they are but this is just an assumption.

Thank you for all the replies!