Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Musiclover john/Archive

03 August 2015

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Editor interaction utility

Opendoorways has made an article Seriya Gebru (Entertainer) which seems to be the same hoax as Seriya Gebru which was made by User:Lolorolokoko who is already blocked (by Reaper Eternal) and tagged (by MaxSem) as a suspected sockpuppet of Musiclover john although I don't see a discussion of this here. Assuming that this is correct, that makes Musiclover john the likely sockmaster here too. If not, it still suggests that Opendoorways is a sock of Lolorolokoko. DanielRigal (talk) 19:40, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * Accounts are all blocked and tagged. TDL (talk) 03:29, 6 August 2015 (UTC)

21 December 2015

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Editor interaction utility

In October 2015, User:Fashionhousedaily uploaded a claiming to be of someone called Nahla Rowe. (Sorry, I don't know how to add a diff for a newly created page.) It seems to be a copyvio although I'm not sure what the original source was. Today, User:Musicbiblegod created a page for that person claiming them to be a minor pop star whose debut album went top 5 in 2006 in the United States and then became a fashion designer, adding as sources a few blogs and minor websites I haven't heard of. There's no evidence that this album exists, let alone went to top 5.

Someone has also uploaded to YouTube a number of videos claiming to be interviews with them or of songs from this fictitious debut album, all uploaded recently by single-purpose accounts, some with plausible sounding names (e.g. MTV Girls Guide) but all really burner accounts. The songs are actually other minor R&B songs by Katharine McPhee with the name changed - for example 'Love Story' by Katherine McPhee becomes 'Typical Love Story' by Nahla Rowe. I contacted user:musicbiblegod on their talk page and they responded by just deleting the deletion notice and insisting that sources are available, so they seem to be in on the hoax rather than just fooled by it. They put a lot of effort into the hoax, even adding Wikiproject links on the talk page, so I worry this might not be a one-off. (just to be clear, I am prepared to believe that the person exists, just that their background of having released a top 5 album is a hoax.) The Nahla Rowe talk page was deleted so fast I didn't save this, but an IP address posted to it asking that the page be kept, so if someone could look at that it might also be relevant. As a note on my own role in this, I found and added the photo onto the Nahla Rowe page very shortly after the page was created, before I realised that the page was a hoax.

Update: according to User:Wikimandia, this is a scam in order to promote an album of renamed music that has been uploaded on iTunes. So we have someone prepared to create a fake Twitter page set to spew out banalities and retweets, at least three YouTube accounts (here, here and here), two Wikipedia accounts, this blog article and this one too in order to promote a not-very-lucrative-sounding scam. I feel fairly confident that this isn't a one-off and there's likely to be other attempts to do stuff like this hiding out there by the same crew. It feels like something a shady click farm might do, especially since it sounds so polished it's hard to see this as a first attempt.

Update 2: They're back! Now as Youngslayer18, recreating the page under the name Nahla Rowe (entertainer). Added to the investigation page, warned them on their talk page, labelled for speedy delete.

Update 3: for future reference this article I've been alerted to seems to be about the same crew and the same scam in summer this year. Blythwood (talk) 19:00, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''
 * This is part of an aggressive hoax campaign apparently to sell a fake album on iTunes. The person in the images used by the fake Nahla Rowe accounts (Twitter, YouTube, website etc) is a real model named Sherise Cromwell.  —Мандичка YO 😜 11:32, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * - Please, compare those two accounts.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  11:06, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure what you mean by "those two accounts", but I'll check all three. --Bbb23 (talk) 23:04, 21 December 2015 (UTC)
 * The following accounts are ✅:
 * Blocked unblocked accounts, tagged all, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:18, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Blocked unblocked accounts, tagged all, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:18, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Blocked unblocked accounts, tagged all, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:18, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Blocked unblocked accounts, tagged all, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:18, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Blocked unblocked accounts, tagged all, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:18, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Blocked unblocked accounts, tagged all, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:18, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Blocked unblocked accounts, tagged all, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:18, 22 December 2015 (UTC)
 * Blocked unblocked accounts, tagged all, closing.--Bbb23 (talk) 01:18, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

05 January 2016

 * Suspected sockpuppets




 * User compare report Auto-generated every hour.
 * Editor interaction utility

Another sockpuppet of Musiclover_john, pushing the fake article 'Nahla Rowe'. The apparent goal of this is to sell other people's renamed music on iTunes. I don't know of any other sockpuppets but it's very possible there are some. Same person was active in August and December last year. Blythwood (talk) 04:18, 5 January 2016 (UTC)

Comments by other users
''Accused parties may also comment/discuss in this section below. See Defending yourself against claims.''

Clerk, CheckUser, and/or patrolling admin comments

 * -, I indeffed the sock. Endorsing a CU check for sleepers.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  11:49, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * ✅ plus who must have slipped through the cracks previously. ​—DoRD (talk)​ 13:29, 5 January 2016 (UTC)
 * Sleeper sock blocked and tagged. Closing.  Vanjagenije  (talk)  14:12, 5 January 2016 (UTC)