Hey everyone,

I’ve noticed something pretty sketchy in r/isitlegitorscam. The mods here, u/Particular-Pitch-692 u/ClassicWater7955, and u/No-Towel7287, aren’t just moderating the sub, they’re actually promoting scams. Instead of helping people figure out if something is legit, they’re advertising payday loan companies with crazy high APRs.

And it gets worse. They seem to be posting from their alt accounts and using their mod accounts to comment on these shady companies, trying to get people to trust them. It’s like they’re running their own scam right in a sub that’s supposed to help people avoid this stuff.

If you see any posts or comments from these accounts, be really careful and report them.

So I have investigated several accounts to see if they are bots. I have done my due diligence - but also reached out to them to ask if they were bots and sent them through BotBouncer.

Obviously, I received no reply. But some time after my direct messages to them, the bots started posting random comments to make it look like they were real people? So I decided to comment on a couple of these: https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/s/w4smsBRL05

https://www.reddit.com/r/wedding/s/znLrmG98UX

Shortly after my comments, all their posts and comments were deleted. Edit: It seems like the first one is back on. Even though it said their comments and posts were „deleted” 2 hours ago. Edit2: Thanks for the clarification below!

But here’s one that edited their comment and asked to ignore my input because I have been stalking them: https://www.reddit.com/r/donuts/s/lohaX7usgV

Bold words! Is it the owner of the ring? Any ideas?

Thanks!

Edit3: There was a development overnight as two out of my three subreddits went from a couple of members to 2k; random posts on these subreddits were upvoted, too. I guess, this is on 😅

u/MrT3Matutino

It seems the Caty/Emily/Mimi bot net has stopped flooding small subreddits with reposts and also stopped posting AI-generated comments on r/AITAH. They're still creating new accounts, still spamming nsfw subs. But at least it seems they're leaving the regular side of Reddit alone for now.

I'm still curious how much money it must have cost them to buy a thousand upvotes for many hundreds of accounts and have them all vanish within a day.

https://www.reddit.com/r/business/comments/bhxiu/how_to_choose_the_best_poker_software/

Just a bunch of spambots autoreplying.

Over on r/fucknestle a majority of new posts are bot reposts with supposedly the op replying to their own post as if they're reacting to it. It's obviously just reposting old posts and copying comments.

Alright, so I’ve been keeping an eye on two subs, r/malwares and r/high_speed_vpn after seeing two posts about it last few days and they’re both seriously full of bots. Like, almost every post and comment seems fake, and the mods look like bots too. It’s a little wild.

What’s crazy is that these bots are posting fake reviews for stuff like Norton, saying it’s great one minute, and then trashing it the next. I’ve noticed that the usernames are almost all autogenerated, and the comments are almost identical across different threads.

I’ve seen people post about this before, but I’m really hoping this time it’ll lead to something being done about it. These subs are basically bot factories at this point.

Here are the other posts about it:

• First Post
• Second Post

Here are the accounts I just reported:

• u/Ok-Syrup-2837
• u/Happy_Implement550
• u/Glittering_Big_5027
• u/Many-Donkey2151
• u/OutcomeLatter918
• u/PlateAdventurous4583
• u/HallAlive7235

On 01-14, I reported many comments from Lost_Assistant 1430 (space added), an LLM bot. On 01-22, I was temporarily banned and sent the following message:

Banned 3-days for report abuse

Someone on the platform reported the following:

• Content shared from Lost_Assistant 1430 on 01/14/2025 UTC

After reviewing, we found that you broke Rule 8 by abusing our reporting tool... As a result, we’re issuing a temporary 3-day ban on your account and asking you not to break this rule again.
If you feel like you didn’t break the rules, you can file an appeal any time within the next six months and we’ll take a second look.
– Reddit Admin Team
Note: This decision was made without the assistance of automation.

Obviously, I immediately filed an appeal, pointing out obvious LLM comments from the account in question like this and this. Not to mention it posts primarily in subs that upvote everything. And those VPN bot nests. I requested that the account be looked at by someone experienced with LLM bots.

On 01-22, just hours later, I received the following reply:

Thanks for submitting an appeal to the Reddit admin team. We reviewed your request and gave the following a second look:

• Content shared from Lost_Assistant 1430 on 01/14/2025 UTC

After reviewing, we found that you broke Rule 8 by abusing our reporting tool... As a result, the ban or warning you were issued remains in place.
If you continue to break Reddit’s rules through another Reddit account, you’ll be breaking Reddit’s rule against ban evasion, and any additional accounts you have will also be banned.
– Reddit Admin Team
Note: This decision was made without the assistance of automation.

In short, Reddit admins are not competent enough to recognize LLM bots, even when they are specifically pointed out, and they may ban you for reporting them. I have had this account for 13 years. I've seen Reddit get worse and worse. And the next time I report a bot, I may get banned permanently. This may be my last post. Let it be a warning to others who would try to do the right thing.

Edit: I had hoped to discuss this prior to naming names, but the automoderator says my post must contain a link. The latest account of his I’m complaining about is: https://www.reddit.com/user/StarWeaver84/

There’s a guy who’s been pestering people in the science fiction subreddits for years, over the course of multiple accounts, asking slight variations on same question—“why isn’t space opera more popular and how can we make it more popular?”

Every few months, it’s a new account asking the same question over and over again. He doesn’t participate in the discussion. He systematically deletes his post history to keep others from noticing he asks the same question over and over again. It’s deceptive, dishonest, and I suspect he has an ulterior motive.

I’ve tried warning people in the past what he’s up to—and have been thanked, on occasion, for my efforts. But the science fiction subreddit moderators, while typically very lackadaisical, have apparently made a point of shadow banning my comments nowadays when I try to warn people about this spammer.

Is his behavior egregious enough to warrant discussing his antics here, or must one just grin and bear the moderators tolerating this clown?

https://www.reddit.com/u/Sweetmelody__okk/s/UN2gDgj6fV

https://www.reddit.com/user/CyrilSneerLoggingDiv

When I visit this account on Old Reddit (which is what I use most of the time), this account's profile is visible.

But when I visit from the official mobile app, or via sh.reddit.com, the account appears to be suspended.

Their comments do appear to show on many of the posts they've commented on, regardless of platform. Normally I'd expect a shadowbanned user's comments to be invisible unless you were a mod, in which case you'd see [ removed ].

I don't think that it's a bot for what it's worth, there's no sign of LLM usage anywhere and other "human" signs such as engaging with replies and adding edits, but I thought I'd share in case anyone had seen anything like this before.

These two subreddits appear to be bot nests of a type I've not seen much elsewhere before. All the mods on both subreddits appear to be bots of the same type that's making most of the self posts on the subreddit.

When you look into the account histories, you'll see the same mix of ChatGPT commenting as well as image posts in at least some of a set of subreddits that are common between them: badparking, ClassicScreenBeauties, MarilynMonroe, oldhollywood, OldSchoolCool, comedyheaven, OldSchoolCelebs.

Example users:

• https://www.reddit.com/user/Critical-Budget1742
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Ok-Syrup-2837
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Miserable_Control_68
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Left-Bottle-7204
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Nervous_Classic4443
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Prudent-Piano6284
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Technical_Way6022
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Prudent-Piano6284
• https://www.reddit.com/user/HeronEducational7357
• https://www.reddit.com/user/PlateAdventurous4583
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Many-Donkey2151
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Sweet_Passenger_5175
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Sweaty-Vegetable-999
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Disastrous_Treacle33
• https://www.reddit.com/user/CoolAd6821
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Low_Researcher4042
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Happy_Implement550
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Glittering_Big_5027
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Critical-Budget1742

reddit.com/user/AdBitter1752

This user randomly posted some string like "dsgs897gsg" toiday in my (nsfw) subreddit. Automod removed it, but going through the queue i clicked the profile to see if it was spam and notice that's all they do. Just post random junk. What's the point here? Suspicious account, I banned them.

I noticed a subreddit called r/SupplementAdvice by looking at the comments for one of the AI generated affiliate bots in my huge list. I discovered the post one of the AI generated affiliate bots left was made underneath a post made by another AI affiliate bot. This subreddit is about to be a year old because it was made on May 1st last year with two actual users (the owner/head mod made their account in 2013, while the second mod made their account towards the end of October in 2023 (identical time frame as the other AI affiliate bots with no history whatsoever), alongside having the Automod as part of their mod team). I reported these AI affiliate bots for spam>disruptive use of bots or AI where no action was taken against them at all. It is very clear the owner doesn't seem to know some or a majority of their members are bots where only a very small percentage are actual people. These AI generated affiliate bots are just trying to farm karma and nothing else, which is against Reddit's TOS, which the admins have taken no action against these AI affiliate bots as well.

https://www.reddit.com/user/mojouw/

/u/FunkyKongForSSBU just did a drive by drop ship scam on a subreddit I mod. And they have pre-blocked me, so I know they know my call outs. they also call out other spam accounts so it's part of a ring fighting with other scammers.

r/RareHistoricalPhotos, r/HistoricalCapsule, and r/SnapshotHistory are plagued with bot accounts, although the first one has the most from what I have seen.

Mid-December bots:

1. u/izerini - Posts hentai on the side. December 13th account creation date.
2. u/loseril - Posts hentai on the side. December 17th account creation date.
3. u/Janegusa - Posts hentai on the side. December 13th account creation date.

They have bots that support them in the comments:

1. u/Tseriko - Posts Lord of the Rings gifs on the LOTR meme sub. Active in r/moodeng. December 17th account creation date.
2. u/bitmasu - Posts Lord of the Rings gifs on the LOTR meme sub. December 24th account creation date.
3. u/Klevirra - Posts hentai on the side. December 17th account creation date.
4. u/TwilightWhisper_ - Active in r/AskRedditAfterDark. November 7th account creation date.
5. u/FrostedGlaze_ - Active in r/AskRedditAfterDark. November 7th account creation date.

This one is over on r/HistoricalCapsule, not r/RareHistoricalPhotos, but the account activity is the same.

u/Utopil28 - Posts hentai on the side. December 24th account creation date. They are active in the r/moodeng subreddit along with some other bot accounts here.

Reposted due to Reddit admins removing the previous post.

Probably got auto-flagged due to putting one of the domain names in the post, I did make sure to put them in unclickable code-blocks, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I was curious when that random bot-ring I spotted last week would start showing up, and it seems like it already was hanging around from the looks of it. Funnily enough I spotted it due to one of the bots showing up in r/happycowgifs again, and then from some connected post on r/standingdesks (which had one of the bots inserted into a moderator position there, as spotted in the previous post).

You can see the account I spotted this time here: https://www.reddit.com/user/unwelcome_frown15/submitted/

You can see them doing the same 'Best <product>' type title in its submissions like in the previous post. They post a submission and then have other bots post comments that link to a post on r/newproducts or r/TechVibe and then off to some affiliate link spam site.

See these examples of the posts that the commenting bots link to: example 1, example 2, example 3 etc.

EDIT:

With a quick look around, it seems like some of the examples of domains used by the bot-ring are:

yourtechbuddies • com
reviewsbyleo • top
manirevs • com
printerguru • in
reviewriches • com
wiseinsights • co
homeofficeworld • com

Although it's pretty common for spammers to just have a bunch of throw-away domains that then redirect to their primary sites to bypass any sort of URL filters.

EDIT2:

Just for reference, my hunch about them wanting to take over subreddit moderator positions was correct; you can follow a big chain of the bot accounts like DevsMage requesting to take over subreddits on r/redditrequest.

EDIT3:

For my own reference, the comment replies by the botted posters frequently seem to follow the patterns of:

Thanks for sharing your experience!
Thanks for suggestion! I'll check it out
Thanks for feedback about these kind of products, its was very helpful
Thanks for suggestion
I'll check it out! thanks
Thanks for the detailed info!

mimi😇 (u/tinykkiss) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Few_Thing_2340) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/sugarheartgirl) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/honeyloveex) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/CurrentFruit8533) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Federal_Love_9628) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/SuggestionPrudent302) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Equal_Signal775) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/sugarloovebugg) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/FixWeird9859) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/HauntingPanic4131) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/girlovvee) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Extreme_Hurry_7604) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/teenkissx) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Itchy-Classic3518) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Firm-Buy-3474) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Legitimate_Juice5575) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/FunStrange3573) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Jolly-Value1974) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/onlinesuggar) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/adoracutiepiexoxo) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/onlinnecutiepie) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Maleficent-Rush7260) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/prettyyheartteen) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/virtuallestteen) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/sugarlloveu) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Legal-Break-110) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/honeyyheartgirl) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/girllluv) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/SuitForsaken4527) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/lovelyheartteenx) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Still_Run_1199) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/NovelExcuse5591) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Far_Permit7675) - Reddit

And these are just the ones that didn't immediately get suspended upon reporting.

https://old.reddit.com/r/inspiration/

mimi😇 (u/prettyumms) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/prettyumms) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Organic_Ad_6958) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/smolkkins) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Neat_Silver_9826) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Standard_Rope1358) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/cutielovebug) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Working-Drawer240) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Silly-Register-739) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/adoralovvee) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/dollumss) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/AshamedChemistry6412) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Gullible_Common_9156) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Minimum_Relative_235) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/xsmolface) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/onlinneface) - Reddit

i😇 (u/xsmolface) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/cybersugarx) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Lazy-Land-6588) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/InterestingCar727) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/sweetestggirl) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Klutzy-Size9193) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/TomatilloLoud5522) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/No_Inflation2759) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/dollestggirl) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Nice-Anywhere7775) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/tinygalxoxo) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Boring-Chocolate6051) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/PlayComfortable9250) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Sea-Researcher300) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/honeydoollface) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/smolaangel) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/xprettyums) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/FlyFlat3782) - Reddit

edit to add:

Catyy🍒 (u/External-Gur32) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/netbooxoxo) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Loose_Drummer_5925) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/smolsuggar) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/ColdExcitement8605) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/xgirlsugarxx) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/FixWeird9859) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/GrapefruitLow1994) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Other-Chemical254) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Friendly_Candle_6145) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/ShoeMajestic3509) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Inevitable_Koala6331) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Opposite_Shoe9314) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Sad_Extension8435) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Fresh_Researcher_977) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Live_Shape6428) - Reddit

sidenote: the newest bot nest is r/wiisportsmemes

edit 2: even more

Catyy🍒 (u/Sad-Worldliness5519) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Worldly-Roof-4216) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/NobodySuccessful2661) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/tinydoollface) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/No-Bad-486) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Think-Major912) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/adoraheeartteen) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/littleoone) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Dangerous_Mine_5884) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Wonderful-Mall-5130) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Hot_Shift899) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/adoraanngel) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/OwnMarch238) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Acrobatic_Golf_4344) - Reddit

(update: pretty much all of these have been suspended. The flooding of AITAH hasn't stopped though.)

It seems they're no longer flooding tiny subreddits, but only making an AITAH comment before switching to promoting their OF. Here's a list of accounts that didn't immediately get suspended upon reporting:

Catyy🍒 (u/honeyccutiepie) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/virtuaalheartteen) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Which_Inspection2060) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/xsmolsugar) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/xgirloveu) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/smollovebugxoxo) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/OrdinaryHonest2428) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Important_Drive2468) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Latter-Avocado-6633) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Potential_Jicama_363) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/virtuallovebugx) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Icy-Cup6072) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/LowPersonal4209) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/cutielovebugx) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/virtualluvxoxo) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/netlooveu) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Sufficient_Wait6850) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/cutiestteenxoxo) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/xsugarheartteen) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Proud_Pea_1884) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/honeyccutiepie) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/xgirldollface) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Advanced-Major-7424) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Dry_Government87) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Internal-Silver8002) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/virtualkinsx) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Dry_Hornet9816) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/virtuuallovee) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Alarming_Bike4661) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/xadorasweetie) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/onlinekittenx) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Easy-Restaurant376) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/xsweetheartteen) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/lovelyheartgirlxoxo) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/prettylovebugxoxo) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Visual-Zucchini-9733) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/onlinneestgirl) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Background-Reply7650) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Clean-Soft-5003) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Many_Information9828) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/virtuaalcutiepie) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Important-Car-2332) - Reddit

Catyy🍒 (u/Scared_Regular5559) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/DutyRadiant7550) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/Fantastic-Hunt3420) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/onlinesweeetie) - Reddit

Emily🌸 (u/sugarrface) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Ecstatic_Word4543) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/Alternative-Book-316) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/cyberestteen) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/smolcutiepiex) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/honeylovebug) - Reddit

mimi😇 (u/LegHistorical6308) - Reddit

Another bot ring, including u/Fiery_Vixen1411, u/Content-Yak-3409, /u/HotMessHottie, /u/BabyLustful, /u/Delicious-Ranger-566

Here's the original from 2 years ago https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xa57mp/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/

Here's the new one from a brand new bot account using the same title https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1i2mmco/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/ (u/Fiery_Vixen1411)

Top comment in original thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xa57mp/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/inrqgan/

Same as in new thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1i2mmco/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/m7fli0c/ (/u/Content-Yak-3409)

...

Two years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xa57mp/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/inrrfs1/

New one: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1i2mmco/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/m7flq82/ (/u/HotMessHottie)

...

Two years ago https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xa57mp/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/inrqkr5/

New: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1i2mmco/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/m7fln3t/ (u/BabyLustful)

...

Original: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xa57mp/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/inrr5ar/

New: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1i2mmco/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/m7fmrki/ (/u/Delicious-Ranger-566)

...

OG: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xa57mp/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/inrqgvr/

NEw: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1i2mmco/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/m7fmkpo/ (u/Delicious-Ranger-566 )

...

OG: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/xa57mp/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/inrr5ar/

New: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1i2mmco/what_is_absolutely_necessary_for_your_mental/m7fmrki/ (u/Delicious-Ranger-566 )

...

I received multiple DMs from this fella today spamming something called IntelGain. Looks scammy as all get out.

https://old.reddit.com/user/IntelGain-io

BotDefense was an incredibly useful tool for dealing with bot spam but it wrapped up operations in 2023. As bot activity has hardly abated in that time I thought I might have a go at writing a replacement and it's now available for public use.

The app is written for Reddit's Dev Platform, and can be installed here.

Like BotDefense, it uses a subreddit (r/BotBouncer) to track and submit bot accounts. There's a FAQ here.

Unlike BotDefense, I've got the app proactively looking for bots in common bot nests across Reddit, and in any subreddit where it's installed (this can be turned off on a per-sub basis). Even though in the testing phase I only had a few subreddits participating, I've currently got nearly 1000 bot accounts flagged as "banned", and nearly 750 accounts that were once flagged as "banned" but have since been suspended by Reddit.

Even though it's only been publicly available for a couple of days, 34 subreddits are now using it and I expect that to grow and grow.

If anyone here who has bot hunting/identification experience and is interested in helping out classify accounts that aren't automatically marked as banned, I'd be very grateful for some help, as I know that it won't be sustainable to do this on my own. I'll be hanging out here of course as this sub is a goldmine for bot hunting information.

Mods of this sub are not moderating it! Tons of reposts https://www.reddit.com/r/CatsBeingCats/s/5WVZ574QiU

r/newmemeeconomy

Same pattern: 100 member sub, suddenly flooded by dozens of posts with 700 upvotes.

https://www.reddit.com/user/Gadshill

• https://www.reddit.com/user/Altruisticgoals

• same as this banned account: https://www.reddit.com/user/Far-from2/

• https://redd.it/1i269x6/

I've been tracking some bot networks that post a lot on these two subs: https://www.reddit.com/r/malwares/

And

https://www.reddit.com/r/high_speed_vpn

It looks like both subs are 90+% bots. The structure of many comments on multiple threads are almost identical to each other when you read down the threads, and almost all of the usernames are autogenerated.

These are all bots that have moved on to generating fake reviews of products. Kinda funny to see a bot suggest Norton and then a few comments later say it's terrible and they'd never recommend it. If anyone has any insights or anything else they've noticed on those subs, please share. Thanks.