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The original was posted on /r/modcoord by /u/Someoneman on 2024-06-29 19:48:18+00:00.
It's a huge problem in many subreddits, especially pet, fandom, and sports subs. A post shows a picture of an art print, mug, or t-shirt. An account comments that it's the best thing ever and asks where to buy it. Another account or OP replies with a shop link. The asker account leaves a message of gratitude. All the accounts involved are used by the same person. The site in question is unaffiliated with the actual artist who made the art. The shop site always has a "Powered by Gearlaunch" logo.
Usually, the accounts doing it are either very new (less than a day old) or very old (over 6 years, probably bought or hacked). The same applies to some accounts praising the art or asking for a shop link.
That many non-spambot users still comment on these posts that they love the art and want to buy the item shown proves that this is a huge issue that still needs to be solved. How do I spread awareness about this problem? My idea would be to contact many large subreddits' mod teams (plus those I managed to worm my way onto, mostly by warning them about these scam posts), but I'm worried about being annoying, spammy, and getting banned/muted. And what would I do after contacting them?