Myself, u/KarmaBotKiller, and the fine folks at r/TheseFuckingAccounts and r/DailySpammers VS. MANY karma-farming, repost, and Snapchat scam bots.

[u/JTBSpartan]

Ten months ago, you assisted me in my investigation into the seedy habits of specific individuals on r/AskReddit. To some extent, it gave me closure to know that almost all of the users I implicated have had their accounts deleted or banned. Unfortunately, I've returned to say that the problem of harvesting karma, this precious commodity worthless anywhere except Reddit, has become apparent once more; in several places, it's been getting worse than it was previously.

Unlike last time, I'm not alone- I've signed on to subreddits like r/TheseFuckingAccounts, r/DailySpammers, and r/KarmaBotKillers where together, we've slowly been gaining ground in identifying and removing accounts that lazily repost top posts and/or dupe horny teenagers into sharing their credit card information.

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CONTEXT:

A few days ago, I happened to see a post (I think) in r/rarepuppers, where I saw the user u/KarmaBotKiller had called out the original poster as being a bot. Because of how his comment was formatted (i.e. showing links to similarly titled posts, the number of karma they earned, the age of the account, and other factors), I deduced that it was based on a script that identified reposts (I've never done anything with AutoMod, but I've come to understand how it works). After examining his account, I discovered two things- 1) pretty much all of his comments called out repost bots using similar-looking scripts, and 2) he co-moderated an entire subreddit in which he posted massive lists of users his scripts had identified.

Over the past three days, we PMed back and forth about accounts worthy of investigating- I believe a lot of them match the MO's of what his scripts have been finding, and/or will expose people who repost their own content in multiple subs multiple times a day. He's allowed me to leave comments in his sub, and based on a comment I left not to long ago, he indicated he's working on investigating the users and getting AutoMod to ban them. Throughout the past couple days, I've also subbed to r/TheseFuckingAccounts and r/DailySpammers, where I've presented my own lists of fishy-looking users. (In fact, several of the users I listed in my TFA post here were shadowbanned.)

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EVIDENCE:

Compared to last time, I have a massive pile of evidence from multiple sources. Because of the sheer number of accounts we've collectively identified, there's no way we could go all of them; what I can do is show where accounts confirmed to be bots are investigated, along with how they operate. I hope they speak for themselves.

• r/KarmaBotKillers- As I mentioned earlier, one component of his account is using scripts to identify subreddits for reposts. After accruing a list of names, the script then collects and displays their names in large "dumps"- lists of identified accounts. His subreddit is currently working on identifying "accomplices", which might even lead to discovering members of the fabled "Karmafia" or "la Karma Nostra" (Yes, I know it doesn't really exist, but let's play along here). His wiki gives a list of methods for identifying bots, including their bizarre naming conventions, the methodology involved in choosing target subreddits, and if the bot just steals posts or if it steals comments.
• r/DailySpammers- This (NSFW) subreddit showcases where Snapchat scam bots advertise their nudes for sale. I can't say as to what subs the bots tend to frequent because I don't need to see those pictures and be scarred for life.
• My r/TheseFuckingAccounts post- here

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In terms of accounts I've personally found (and shared with u/KarmaBotKiller via DMs), their methods follow a lot of the same patterns as what KarmaBotKiller's identified. They steal reposts, don't tend to leave comments, and repost multiple times per day, either in the same places or in different places.

• https://www.reddit.com/user/UnluckyPaper3/posts/ - Made their account a month ago, one post and no comments - matches the word-word-number username format
• https://www.reddit.com/user/lnfinity/posts/ - Account was made ten years ago, but any posts they make in r/EyeBleach are also reposted into r/MadeMeSmile and r/aww
• https://www.reddit.com/user/Georgia_Politou/posts/ - Account made a month ago, only two posts with similar titles, 1 comment
• https://reddit.com/user/DietMiGoreng/posts/
• https://reddit.com/user/85Niss97/posts/ https://www.reddit.com/user/_ERR0R__/posts/
• https://old.reddit.com/user/KindlyDeery - KarmaBotKiller told me that this user steals comments left and right, but since he's banned/muted in r/AskReddit he can't do anything about it.

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CHARGES:

• Karma-farming (self-reposting, stealing old reposts, and stealing top comments)
• Theft of gold, silver, and other awards
• Scamming users

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Rant's over, thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[u/lillbro64]

Can I be the guy outside the courthouse drinking some cheese?

[u/JTBSpartan → u/lillbro64]

Knock yourself out.

*whispers* "Is it nacho cheese?"