Fake/Catphishing Followers - How to Deal ith These?

I usually just remove/block them but indeed, this gets more and more annoying. 

Here’s an article how to report users - https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/206522304-How-to-Report-Cheating-on-Strava - it appears that the preferred way to report an account (vs. single activity) is via a support ticket. It's not very convenient and from what I hear, the tickets queue is fairly long these days, but it appears to be the right venue.

Thank you. I’ll check that out. Seems to me Strava could have better screening protocols to flag accounts for removal (e.g., accounts that follow many others but have few or no activities of their own).

Definitely agreed… tagging ​@Jane the moderator - would this be suitable as feedback for the product team?

Yeah, I remember that happening to me a few weeks ago.  I got a follower named Mary Arlene and she had no activities on her profile... but her profile pic was shall we say... quite revealing(!)  Her profile disappeared a few hours later (which is quicker than a help desk ticket), so I assume Strava does have some kind of vetting process behind the scenes.  But like so many other things around here… I’m sure it could stand a few improvements.

Hmmm I’m trying to click around… when I open a random user profile, then in the “...” in the top right corner, there's a “Report” option. I don't want to try it as I don't have a suitable specimen by hand now 😀 (and I don't want to unintentionally report an innocent athlete) but - it's probably another way..? I  didn't see this feature mentioned in that article linked earlier, but it sounds like worth trying.

I’ve noticed a huge uptick in the number of random followers.  I’m getting 5 a day now and I just ignore them.  They are obviously fake accounts since the women are all in their 20s, gorgeous, and have 1 or 0 activities associated with their accounts.  I’m a paid subscriber so in my setting section I don’t allow any messaging unless I message them first.  It’s hilarious to see the frustration from some of these women trying to message me but can’t.  So they opt to leave comments in any of my activities asking “why can’t I message you”… “I really want to chat with you”… “you have such a nice smile”….”are you going out on your bike today?”  etc. etc.  What I find interesting is that new followers show up with rotating pics associated with other member accounts.  Sure it’s a pain but it’s also pretty entertaining too.  I have fun with it!

Well, what’s the scam here?  How do they make money doing this?  Do they hope some guy will wire them some money… nobody’s that naive! 

​@JBW-Florida oh people are naive. It's called “pig butchering” scam and it's very popular among crooks nowadays. (A popular profile is a divorced woman from some “exotic” country who has recently moved to NY or SF and looks for new friends and by the way works in crypto… or, a widowed soldier who desperately needs help with whatever will make someone send money… look it up.)

Okay, there’s no hope for humanity. 😿