Follower fraud

Follower fraud is the practice of buying fake or bot followers, or using follower-inflation services, to appear larger or more popular than a creator’s genuine audience actually is.

A brand paying based on follower count for a creator with fraudulent followers is effectively paying for reach that doesn’t exist — the content is shown to few or no real people despite the follower number suggesting otherwise.

• Compare follower count against engagement rate — a large following with unusually low likes/comments is a common signal.
• Check follower growth history for sudden, unexplained spikes, which often indicate a bulk purchase rather than organic growth.
• Look at the followers themselves for signs of bot accounts — no profile photo, no posts, generic usernames, in large numbers.