A profile from Ken Payne on LinkedIn. Ken's profile says he works for Microsoft, and his profile says it is from 2007. But he talks like a bot. "How much $ do you get from USAID -- indirectly? George Mason, international studies. We know. I'm text to a bot. But your slanderous days are over.

Ken is a good example of the kinds of direct messages I get a lot on LinkedIn these days. Ken's profile says he's a Microsoft specialist.

Or is he...?

Ken's profile says it was created in 2007, so it's not an account that just materialized. Something in me wants to give Ken the benefit of the doubt.

This opening message from Ken is typical in that it

a) seems to be worded oddly for a native English speaker
b) suggests I'm taking money to speak out (in this case from USAID no less)
c) asserts that I am slandering the administration and
d) menacingly or vaguely promising retribution. Ken's message is somewhat confusingly worded ("I'm text to a bot"), and that caught my eye again. So I decided to take the bait.

Ken Payne
9:55 PM

How much $ do u get from USAID - indirectly ? George Mason. International studies. We know. 😂 im text to a bot. But your slanderous days are over.

Brian Krebs
10:07 PM
Hi Ken. You're a bot? Really? Tell me more. That would explain a lot.

Ken Payne
10:16 PM
No, I’m not a bot. But i thought you are. I welcome a conversation.

Brian Krebs
10:16 PM
Do you always start conversations this way?

Ken:
Is Ronald Reagan the president of?

Brian Krebs
10:17 PM
Is English your language of?

Ken Payne
10:17 PM
Testing the AI

Brian Krebs
10:18 PM
oh. I'm talking with AI?

Ken Payne
10:18 PM
We can talk any time.

Brian Krebs
10:18 PM
Apparently one of us can

Brian Krebs
10:19 PM
Well, Ken, I gotta hand it to you: You drank the Microsoft Kool-Aid, and I guess after that the Trump Kool-aid went down real easy, right?

Prove to me you're not a bot, Ken.

Ken Payne
10:20 PM

I’m him free now. U disapprove of DOGE. I support it. U are more suspicious than I.

Brian Krebs
10:21 PM
I think you either are a bot that's part of an influence campaign, or you're just not that bright. You certainly don't speak like someone who has an education, or a very good grasp of the English language.

Ken Payne
10:22 PM
I work at MSFT. but I see their sins. Perhaps Chinese intelligence influence. Dunno

Brian Krebs
10:22 PM
So Ken, how can YOU prove you're a real person?

Can I call you?
Ken, I'm starting to have real doubts about your non-botness
Ken?

Unsurprisingly, Ken didn't want to chat on the phone, or give a phone number.

Is Ken a bot? Or is Ken just another useless idiot? Either way, there sure are a lot of Kens.

Public

A profile from Ken Payne on LinkedIn. Ken's profile says he works for Microsoft, and his profile says it is from 2007. But he talks like a bot. "How much $ do you get from USAID -- indirectly? George Mason, international studies. We know. I'm text to a bot. But your slanderous days are over.

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