SCOTS writer Ian Rankin has complained that his Twitter account is being spammed by semi-naked followers.
The Rebus author said that many of his newer followers were not all that they seem.
He said that while they appeared to have normal, respectable jobs many seemed to be curiously scantily clad.
Such accounts on the social networking site are often used for sending spam to users, and is often of a smutty nature.
Edinburgh-based Rankin tweeted to his 25,000 followers on Sunday night, saying: “Checking profiles of some recent followers, a lot of young women seem to have good middle-management jobs, but work in overheated offices.”
The humorous observation was retweeted by 23 other people.
User @julienpoppy replied: “ha I wonder if they are the same ones who keep following me. Maybe not they soon go when they realise I am fat middle aged female.”
While @MelanieLewicka added: “Maybe they are just pretending they are young and they are actually menopausal.”
The problem of spam accounts is a hot topic on Twitter, with tweets on the subject made every few seconds.
Often the offending accounts have no followers and few tweets but are following thousands of accounts.
And the accounts frequently sport a scantily-dressed woman in a suggestive pose as the profile picture – often one image is used on multiple accounts.
@christapus worte: “Nine “sexy lady” spam followers so far today, three of them with the same profile picture.”
One user, @belle_vierge, wrote on the subject, saying: “Seriously, SO TIRED OF spam sex accounts. I get so many spam followers that I’ve started noticing a repeat in their “sexy” profile pictures.”
While @malikshareef complained: “Sexy spam bots getting lazy. One just started following me with Tia (or Tamera) Mowry as the profile pic. Nice try, Rosalinda.”
