Bots pretending to be Army officials
October 16, 2018 1:33 PM Subscribe
Recently on Instagram I’ve gotten friend requests from two bots that are “impersonating” US Army officials, instead of the regular porn bots that are typically scantily clad women, and I was wondering if this was some sort of new strategy? There have only been two so far, so that definitely doesn’t make a trend, but it’s so out of the ordinary from the typical spam I get that it’s made me wonder.
Here are the bots in question.
Richard Longo is a now-retired major general of the US Army, and his last post was as the deputy commanding general and chief of staff of US Army Europe. The bot’s Instagram page is super generic (they both are) with pictures of soldiers and some photos of the real Richard Longo.
David Rodriguez is currently in charge of the US Army Africa Command, but has a bit more of an extensive resumé, so I’ll paste it from his Wikipedia page:
Previously, Rodriguez served as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Forces Command from 12 September 2011 until 15 March 2014. He has also served as Commander, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command (IJC) and Deputy Commander, U.S. Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from 12 November 2009 to 11 July 2011.[2] Approved by the U.S. Senate on 5 March 2013, to take over AFRICOM from General Carter F. Ham, Rodriguez assumed command on 5 April 2015.[3]
Rodriguez has commanded at every level across the United States Army. His previous assignment was as the Commanding General of the United States Army Forces Command. Additionally, Rodriguez commanded the International Security Assistance Force – Joint Command (IJC) in Afghanistan; the 82nd Airborne Division; 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division; and 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). He also commanded companies of the 75th Ranger Regiment, and 1st Armored Division.[5]
His Instagram page is basically the same generic photos of soldiers, pictures of him, pictures of him with Obama, etc.
Has anybody else had this experience? Like I said, I typically get bots that are scantily clad women, which is also the experience of my friends, but this is a totally new experience. On top of that, it seems bizarre that they’d grab two obscure US Army officials. I had to look both these guys up, and I highly doubt most anybody would know who these guys are off the top of their heads.
Any ideas?
Here are the bots in question.
Richard Longo is a now-retired major general of the US Army, and his last post was as the deputy commanding general and chief of staff of US Army Europe. The bot’s Instagram page is super generic (they both are) with pictures of soldiers and some photos of the real Richard Longo.
David Rodriguez is currently in charge of the US Army Africa Command, but has a bit more of an extensive resumé, so I’ll paste it from his Wikipedia page:
Previously, Rodriguez served as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Forces Command from 12 September 2011 until 15 March 2014. He has also served as Commander, International Security Assistance Force Joint Command (IJC) and Deputy Commander, U.S. Forces – Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from 12 November 2009 to 11 July 2011.[2] Approved by the U.S. Senate on 5 March 2013, to take over AFRICOM from General Carter F. Ham, Rodriguez assumed command on 5 April 2015.[3]
Rodriguez has commanded at every level across the United States Army. His previous assignment was as the Commanding General of the United States Army Forces Command. Additionally, Rodriguez commanded the International Security Assistance Force – Joint Command (IJC) in Afghanistan; the 82nd Airborne Division; 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division; and 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). He also commanded companies of the 75th Ranger Regiment, and 1st Armored Division.[5]
His Instagram page is basically the same generic photos of soldiers, pictures of him, pictures of him with Obama, etc.
Has anybody else had this experience? Like I said, I typically get bots that are scantily clad women, which is also the experience of my friends, but this is a totally new experience. On top of that, it seems bizarre that they’d grab two obscure US Army officials. I had to look both these guys up, and I highly doubt most anybody would know who these guys are off the top of their heads.
Any ideas?
I get those all the time. Always block, report if I remember to do so - it's definitely a thing.
posted by leslies at 3:57 PM on October 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by leslies at 3:57 PM on October 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I got a ton of those back when Google Plus was a thing. I blocked them. There were easily 75-100 that I got in a 2 month period. All military, different ones (British and Australian in addition to American, so all English-speaking).
posted by clone boulevard at 4:07 PM on October 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by clone boulevard at 4:07 PM on October 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Romance scammers targeted at middle aged women. If you talked to it, it would claim to be widowed and Christian and looking for a good wife. I get 10 of these a month.
posted by frumiousb at 4:20 PM on October 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by frumiousb at 4:20 PM on October 16, 2018 [3 favorites]
I get a lot of these too. I figured it was some kind of scam but couldn't think what. Romance scammers! What a world.
posted by apricot at 5:22 PM on October 16, 2018
posted by apricot at 5:22 PM on October 16, 2018
They befriend you, get you talking on another app then get you to send gifts or things they can’t supposedly easily get in their dangerous and dashing remote location. You send electronics and they offer to pay you back but don’t and then they have a terrifying crisis and ask for money.
posted by amanda at 6:30 PM on October 16, 2018
posted by amanda at 6:30 PM on October 16, 2018
I must be undesirable. I never get these. Never even heard of these.
posted by bz at 12:58 PM on October 17, 2018
posted by bz at 12:58 PM on October 17, 2018
I only started getting them when I changed my "Who can friend you?" to "Anyone," rather than just "Friends of Friends." And there's a definite uptick when I comment on public posts. Which is why I try to avoid commenting on public posts.
posted by lazuli at 1:12 PM on October 17, 2018
posted by lazuli at 1:12 PM on October 17, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Krazor at 1:43 PM on October 16, 2018 [7 favorites]