Expert explains intimate bots flirting on social media

Surely each of you has seen comments under news posts on social networks like «I dream of being alone among men» from a girl with a revealing avatar. It is especially surprising when such comments are left in the context of various events. Such comments are published by so-called intimate bots.

The editorial staff of 116.RU spoke with a specialist and learned more about where such bots come from, their types, how and why they are created, and who earns from this.

First type — spam comments

Our interviewee is named Artem Karakov, he is the director of the digital agency Setkateam. From 2018 to 2023, Artem owned one of the large networks of Telegram channels. The theme of the project was «the aesthetics of the female body.» According to him, this theme relatively bordered on eroticism.

— For me, it was just aesthetics, meaning nothing nude, everything within the law. Therefore, I have good awareness in the 18+ niche, — says Karakov.

— There are two types of intimate bots, and the first kind is spam comments, — explains Karakov. — You all read Telegram channels: some like news, others — music, movies. And then you notice an interesting post and want to read feedback from other subscribers. You go to the comments and see an account of a beautiful (or not so) girl who writes that she is free and wants to «show herself» if you happen to write to her in private messages.

According to our interviewee, lonely men can fall for this. Usually, it works like this: a young man might reply to the bot’s comment by complimenting the girl’s appearance in the avatar, and in response, he receives an offer for intimate services or 18+ photos and videos for an additional fee.

Comments from such profiles are getting smarter. They do not just invite people to their channel but leave captions in the context of the post or reply to other comments. As the expert explains, this is a new version of spam bots.

— The neural network skillfully comments on the post and smoothly transitions to its description. For example, if the post was about some news, the comment might sound like this: «Damn, it’s sad that this happened, but I will try to brighten your evening. If you are sad, write to me in private messages.» If you dig deeper, you can find really many such comments, — says Karakov.

The basis of monetization for such products is the sale of various private sessions and 18+ content where girls are fully nude. However, there are also scammers who deceive users.

— The outcome: if they might send photos and videos (and even that is not certain), but if a man leaves a prepayment for intimate services, he is simply blacklisted, and after a few days, they write and blackmail him in the format: «If you don’t send us additional money right now, we will tell your family, children, friends about how you partied with a prostitute.» Guys, 90% of such bots are just scammers who accept payments not to their own details, so please be careful, — advises Artem.

Doxing bots

The second type of bots is doxing bots. They were popular in 2022–2024.

— Now people have realized that this is a scam. They supposedly dig up your significant other, and if she ever sent nude photos to someone, it all gets leaked. In reality, this is a scam project; no one buys any databases. Their essence is payments. For example, they might tell a person: «We will send you a photo of your naked girlfriend now, you just have to pay us 150 rubles.» Then they might say that the payment did not go through and so on. There are many variations, — says our interviewee.

«Most of the population has relationship problems», or How people earn from this

Such bots are created in a combination: spam bot + neural network. As Karakov explains, comments under posts in Telegram channels go through spam services, and the neural network already «lures» men (or women) for money.

— Why exactly intimate bots? Well, it’s simple: when most of the population has problems in personal relationships, with a girlfriend, wife, or simply no significant other, they simply lack dopamine. And the fastest, simplest way to find it is through intimate services, — notes Artem.

Our interviewee said that this is exactly what the creators of intimate bots exploit. For example, while real intimate services can cost from 7,000 to 20,000 rubles, a package of 18+ photos and videos in a bot might cost about 800 rubles.

— One such bot can bring in from 50,000 to 100,000 rubles. Telegram used to be famous for its anonymity, and people registered here only to view 18+ content and buy various prohibited goods. Considering that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find a way to relax in the evening, and going to restaurants or cafes is getting more expensive, no new acquaintances appear, and there are no girls, people go to Telegram and end up running into scammers, — adds Karakov.

Who creates the bots

According to our interviewee, the «boom» of such bots started after the beginning of the special operation.

— So think twice when you pay for various services from prostitutes on «Telegram», — warns the expert.

He says that in 2022, people from a neighboring country often came to «Telegram» to buy such bots. Then the scheme worked approximately like this: a user came for earnings, pressed «start», after which the bot offered to «smash someone’s car and all sorts of other crap.» According to Artem, it was the buyers of these bots who later switched to 18+ topics.

— When this started, my team and I began actively fighting it, we started taking down bots while we had the budget for it. No one funded us, and taking down such a bot cost around 15,000–30,000 rubles at that time, and there were very many bots. Then my network of projects, unfortunately, faded into oblivion, and further blocking of these projects had to be suspended because there was simply no money left, — he explains.

Blocking bots

Such bots can be blocked. As Karakov explains, this happens rarely and mostly only because they spam a lot. If intimate bots do not violate limits, they can only be blocked by submitting many complaints. Now the chance of blocking an intimate profile is minimal, as the messenger’s support often does not respond to messages.

— «Telegram» has its own certain limits that cannot be exceeded. If you, let’s say, send more messages per day, then in this case your profile can be blocked. Yes, you can chip in with guys for 10,000–20,000 rubles, go to various panels where you can inflate complaints, and in this case, you can file 5,000–10,000 complaints against a person. In such a case, the intimate bot will most likely be blocked, but even then the chance is small. Let’s hope that support will soon work normally and there will be fewer such bots, — says Artem.

Earlier, our colleagues from 59.RU collected the most interesting comments from intimate bots under Perm news. Among them, you can see those very «smart» bots.