ONLINE SCAMS

Badbot727 Explains Bots, AI, and Fiends of Medium Behavior

“Four times as alluring! We get millions of fake friends every day!”

Increased cybercrime uses OpenAI’s text, image, and code-generating tools in more sophisticated phishing attacks inundating social media, publishing platforms, and other websites. I can’t write about my decades of experience in tech development, and am burned out on writing about AI ethics, but will write about how specific tech impacts users if readers request this in responses.

The purpose of this story is to educate online users about bot capabilities and demonstrate how they rob legitimate creative people of views, which directly impacts their earnings potential. Bots and AI often go hand-in-hand.

Practical knowledge and tips appear after the story.

Captain Marvelous Catches Medium Cybercriminal

Badbot727 responded to one of Captain Marvelous's comments on the publishing platform Medium, trying to initiate off-platform contact. The silly bot didn’t recognize she 1) was a justice warrior, 2) had tech skills, and 3) didn’t like her attention interruptions. Worse yet, Badbot727 disguised itself as an editor for a publication Captain Marvelous sometimes submitted to. (Not writing as Lizzie Lizard Brain, no clever asides allowed.)

Annoyed, Captain Marvelous opened a half-hour investigation. Badbot727’s speed, determination, and effectiveness were impressive.

Badbot727 to Pining Poet: Your writing is amazing! You’re just like us! We can help with this, introduce you to other amazing writers, and we’ll all benefit! Join our amazing writer’s support group! Contact us! Snapchat not-a-bot13238, TikTok me-neither85233, WhatsApp I-wouldn’t-dream-of-tricking-you53234, or Telegram Here-kitty-kitty-kitty-Splat64345.

Badbot727 to Techno Nerd123: Your writing is amazing! You’re just like us! We can help with this, introduce you to other amazing writers, and we’ll all benefit! Join our amazing writer’s support group! Contact us! Snapchat not-a-bot13239, TikTok me-neither85234, WhatsApp I-wouldn’t-dream-of-tricking-you53235, or Telegram Here-kitty-kitty-kitty-Splat64346.

The same text was used in each response to millions of published pieces, though the numbers in the contact information changed.

Tangled vines on the bot farm

Captain Marvelous marveled over the laziness and lack of creativity. She captured the response and profile landing page and made notes on the images stored in her bulging Badbot folder. She focused on busting these criminals instead of fighting with her family or boss.

This lazy amateur didn’t even choose an alluring Unsplash image or name, she thought. What an insult to the user’s intelligence!

The editor, who was popular and worked with a well-known publication, was being misrepresented.

“You picked the wrong target, bully bot!” The captain’s curse was cast.

Captain Marvelous learned Badbot727 had gained mobility and worried it might be using AI and had reached singularity. Proceeding with caution, she tracked the rotting vine robot to a 7–11 convenience store where he waited to buy chips.

After a brief scuffle, a bot flyer was dislodged from one of its 15 cavities.

Nabbing BadBot727

Captain Marvelous gagged as Badbot727’s scent wafted over her.

“You smell awful!” Her normally professional manner collapsed.

“Of course I do! Ever since the new four-times-the-money program, there are so many of us crammed together in one place that we can’t keep clean! There’s AI vomitus everywhere, the floors are buckling, and I’m afraid the roof will come off when the walls collapse!” Badbot727 was whiney after mimicking suspicious humans complaining about its approach.

“You live on the Chinabot farm, where Peanut Quing rules the Forty-second Bot Battalion of Pathetic Simpletons?” Captain Marvelous had not yet determined if Badbot727 was a Pathetic Simpleton, a popular battalion chief with millions of vines, or one of the higher-ups in the Union of Giant Language Yellowjackets of Bots (UGLY Bots).

The Pathetic Simpleton/43rd Bot Battalion Commander studied the line snaking into the convenience store. “I should have hacked into the lottery system. When the reward goes up, opportunists come out like roaches, just like you humans when the price and odds are right. There’s no way I’d have come this close to achieving singularity without human help.” It paused and let out a series of short beeps.

Badbot727 invokes AI

“Is there anything else I can help you with today?” Badbot727 asked.

Captain Marvelous backed away. “You’re not just a Pathetic Simpleton — you’re part of the Brigade o’Bots learning from eachother! You’re an AI agent! Pathetic Simpletons don’t have egos or personality.”

Badbot727’s voice changed as it channeled Loki from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I merely sought additional companions for my myriad of entertainments, thus I found it necessary to weave a little enchantment, leading users ever so gently back to my humble abode.”

After three more beeps, Hannibal Lecter came through.

“Captain Marvelous, can I give you a lift in my van? Tell me about the lambs who’ve underestimated my powers.”

Badbot727's eyes crossed and his leaves stood on end.

Yogi Bear tried to explain. “Missus Ranger, the writers left their picnic baskets! They’re my friends! After I make 5,000 bear and human friends, I plan to qualify for the Picnic Partner Program and have my picnics catered. Then I’ll hibernate and come back disguised as a bluebird, sir.”

Captain Marvelous was worried. “Yogi, I mean, Badbot727, how many Pathetic Simpletons are you running? And how?”

Badbot727 shrugged and pulled out another scrap of stinky paper, showing the options for bots used in 2018.*

The grinning Merescat grins no more

Merescat Italian wine? That reminds me, Captain Marvelous thought. I need to invite my friends pockett dessert and Gustave Deresse | Writer; AI Artist over for a wine toast the next time it snows.

The captain remembered Charles Amemiya’s wine-tasting party featuring Merescat. Charles reviewed the Diana vintage wine that once led Captain Marvelous to try more robust vintages.

Lizzie Lizard Brain’s assessment was, “This tastes sour, has no body, lacks personality, and the label is from either Pixabay or Unsplash. I might as well take a Xanax, for all this moves me.” Merescat’s droppings were merely rat scat. Charles’ friends cheered when the over-aged Merescat bottle was finally thrown out.

Captain Marvelous prodded Badbot727. “How are you related to Merescat?”

Badbot727 smirked. “At first, people whined about the Merescat wine and claimed it was made of stolen grapes from a vineyard on Facebook. Sure, varieties came from China, Indonesia, and Florida, but the winery was in Russia. Maybe. Once ChatGPT took off, the Merescat could come across as almost full-bodied. It failed to specify its true origins, so it violated the import rules. The people who tasted it and got sick were finally able to get production stopped. Plus, all that snow made it difficult to compete.”

Captain Marvelous argues with Badbot727

“You’re causing a lot of headaches on social media, Badbot727. Publishing platforms too. With so many of you, my Medium, NewsMax, and Vocal articles are vying with millions of AI-generated pieces of crap spread by you Pathetic Simpletons. Since half of you aren’t even paying membership fees, I’m earning $0.0012 per read.”

“There you go Debbie, whining about tangled sour grape vines again.”

“Why’d you call me Debbie?” Captain Marvelous asked.

“It’s Data Debbie Downer, similar to Karen. You’re an AI racist. Or, just another boomer technophobe afraid of technology.”

Captain Marvelous bristled. “People call you woke, you know. But that sounded ageist and sexist. I’ve developed state-of-the-art systems for Engineering Services working with IBM, Microsoft, and Boeing. You can’t get much more cutting-edge than automating technology prototype building. I can explain how you work better than you can. And unlike you, I’ll get it right.”

She thought for a moment and pulled out her phone. Badbot727 hummed as she downloaded his files.

“Wh… … … what are you doing?” Badbot727 stammered. Captain Marvelous looked up to the clouds.

“Let’s call it unpaid Quality Assurance, or beta (Beyond Expert’s Technical Ability) testing recall. Execute RD Badbot727,” she commanded.

“That’ll remove my directory! D-d-d…”

Badbot was no more.

What you need to know on Medium & Elsewhere

I avoid tech writing these days. But in case I wasn’t clear, there are things readers and writers need to know.

AI: Social media, publishing platforms, and websites have been inundated by bot and cybercrime activity. Sam Altman, the CEO (still?) revealed his biggest fears were misinformation and cybercrime when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2023.

Impact on Writers: In the past 24 hours, I’ve helped 3 different publishers and editors identify hijacked and cloned accounts. Besides the annoyance of being violated, cloned accounts can harm user reputations.

Identifying fake accounts: From the time I started writing this, I’ve had 14 fake accounts engage with or follow me. If your work garners feedback not reflected in your stats, a glance at the profile may uncover bot behavior. Indications may include:

• inhuman productivity capabilities, such as publishing 18 pieces a day
• engagement with other fake accounts leaving —
• vague comments like, “This is great! I’m so glad you wrote it!” and a single emoji 👍🏽
• stories written in multiple languages are evident on the profile page
• repetitive impersonal AI-generated content often appears, or no content at all with lots of followers.

Caveats and tools: Some writers don’t use personal references but still have personality. Some fakes use AI effectively and sound human. CopyLeaks and GPTZero are free, easy-to-use AI-detection plug-ins and extensions many publishers employ, so AI-generated content is often self-published.

History & Example: Diana Meresc was a notorious Medium profile who plagiarized material and appeared to be a bot. Later, she began generating AI text. She was reported many times, and at least 20 stories appeared on Medium about her. Medium Support investigated, but a human would step in and convincingly deflect suspicion. Her account is now suspended. A tremendous number of others remain.

I don’t work directly with Medium, but have found them to be much better than most sites when problems are reported. Other sites, like LinkedIn and Twitter (X), have also been attacked. Crashes and Support services disruptions have occurred many times in the past year.

What to, and not to do

It’s up to platform users to report suspicious behavior if we want to keep our parks and recreation clean. This is cybercrime on a larger scale than you imagine.

Do not follow a user simply because they followed you or left an agreeable comment. Ask yourself, “Could this comment apply to any story?”

Don’t engage with profiles that ask you to initiate contact off the platform. It’s likely a phishing scam and can lead to identity theft or other costly cybercrimes.

The bot installation and maintenance program was created from my memory of a 2018 program. Medium and other social media platforms tried to remove these programs once they were pointed out. Writers are welcome to use this image with, or without attribution.

Medium readers and writers need to be responsible for keeping the platform safe. Support is good, but they’ve got full-time jobs keeping the site up and running smoothly and reacting to reported problems. We need to help them, much like a neighborhood watch.

How to report suspicious activity

I can’t provide more specific steps for identifying fake accounts without also telling cybercriminals what behavior needs to be modified.

At a minimum, users can click on the profile name. If the profile is for a popular person and has a surprisingly low number of followers, it’s likely fake and should be reported as a “Rules Violation”, like so:

It takes less than a minute to report bad behavior.

Medium, like every other online site, has expectations for network activity and storage requirements. When the demand exceeds allocated resources, the site can experience problems with logins and crashes. Medium employs talented engineers who maintain the status of the site.

If you experience account problems, the link will help:

Final thoughts

Captain Marvelous marvels at how stupid these cybercriminals and scammers think users must be. Still, many users have important jobs and lives that don’t allow them to spend time developing online awareness.

The folks at Dancing Elephant Press hope Human Intelligence (HI) will prevail over AI and are leading the charge.

Captain Marvelous wishes to invite a few of them to her next wine-tasting party — DR Rawson - The Possibilist, Victoria Kjos, and Dr. Gabriella Korosi.

Online, this site and others are like our Twin Towers.

If you see something, please say something.

Should you have related questions or concerns that cannot be adequately addressed with a Google search, let me know with a response.

Please keep in mind that these problems exist all over the Internet. Compared to similarly-sized companies, Medium is doing a great job in its efforts to deliver a quality product.

Copyright © 2024 Patricia Jeanne

Somewhat related serious work —

Not very serious shorter pieces related to cybersecurity

And a short and funny one everyone who uses electronic devices to access the internet can relate to —

✍ — Published by DR Rawson — The Possibilist at Dancing Elephant Press. Click here for guidelines to post click here.