Selling bundles of 1,000 fake followers for the typical price of around $18 a day can bring in revenues of $800 per day, according to a study by security researchers at Barracuda Networks. Dealers also have the option of selling re-tweets as an additional source of revenue, a dodgy trade that commands a fee of $5 for 2,000 re-tweets. The average dealer controls as many as 150,000 followers at a time. The creation of these dodgy accounts is automated using tools that copy pictures from genuine profile before registering fake profiles, so very little effort is involved.
