x
Breaking News
More () »

We spoke to real people being used as pro-Ducey Twitter bots. Here's what they said.

We tracked down some of the real people being used on fake Twitter profiles pushing Doug Ducey's campaign, including a Sinclair political reporter and a bicyclist in the UK. Ducey's campaign says, "It's not us."

If you believe his Twitter profile, Quentin Jost is a conservative millennial, sushi chef and motorcycle enthusiast in Scottsdale. He's also a big fan of Gov. Doug Ducey.

"Just another example of the great work @dougducey is doing for AZ," one of his retweets of Ducey reads.

The only problem is, this Quentin Jost doesn't really exist, and the profile picture being used for the false account belongs to a man who's never even heard of Gov. Ducey.

His real name is Benedict Dellot and he lives in London. 12 News notified him Tuesday about the false account created in his name. Let's get one thing straight: He rides bicycles not motorbikes.

"I mean maybe it is plausible to have a sushi-loving motorcyclist who likes this governor. But it's not me," Dellot told 12 News.

In recent days, a flurry of these kind of fake Twitter accounts have followed influencers and journalists in the Valley, all promoting Ducey's re-election campaign.

A simple reverse image search of these Twitter bots can reveal who the real people are behind the photos.

There's Nicole Wright a supposed Arizona teacher who's using the photo of Sharon Shannon an Irish musician "best known for her work with the accordion and for her fiddle technique."

And Sarah Jean, a U of A grad and mother who loves travel and politics. A reverse image search shows the photo belongs to Sarah Jean Fry, an actress from Los Angeles.

The fake Sarah Jean profile has since changed its photo.

Ronald Richard is a "lover of all things Pittsburgh and politics." That would include the Steelers. Except, the profile picture being used for this fake account, which retweets a lot of stuff about Ducey, is actually Scott Thuman, a chief political correspondent covering the White House.

He's neither a fan of having his photo used nor the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"It's always alarming when someone fraudulently uses your name or image—especially since I've always worked hard to maintain a fair, down-the-middle, reputation while covering politics," Thuman told 12 News.

Now, there's no reason to believe the bulk of Gov. Ducey's Twitter followers aren't legitimate. Regarding this recent rash of Twitter bots supporting Ducey, his campaign spokesperson Patrick Ptak told 12 News, "we saw it too. Not us."

Although Dellot can laugh at his image being misused, he plans on contacting Twitter to get the fake profile removed.

"I'll just message Twitter, ask them to take it down, hopefully they do, I don't know how much time it takes," he said.

Before You Leave, Check This Out