In a normal context, the phrase “my husband and I work for JPMorgan” might be merely a not-so-subtle flex.
But lately on Threads, it’s seems more like a telltale sign that the user is in fact a bot.
Users on Meta’s short-form social network have recently noticed a barrage of strange recurring posts, all following a template that begins with phrases like “my husband and I” or “my wife and I,” followed by claims to work for companies like Exxon, Fidelity, IBM, and many, many more.
Below the post, investment advice follows the phrase “I’m only going to say this once,” with a list of various tickers and instructions, such as “don’t buy” or “buy at” pasted below.
In one case, a post read, “My husband and I are both analysts at PepsiCo, I’ll only say this once. My advice for September 20th is: cancel your plans and stay home.”
Another similar post simply switched the date and company. “My husband and I are both analysts at Expedia Group. I’ll only say this once. My advice October 20th is cancel your plans and stay home,” the post read.
But in both cases, the investment advice was the same: eight tickers listed in the same order, each with a purchase instruction by its side.
- “$TSLA (Tesla) — Don’t buy
- $PLTR (Palantir) — Don’t buy
- $ARM (Arm) — Don’t buy
- $NVDA (Nvidia) — Buy at $223–$225
- $AMZN (Amazon) — Buy at $265–$267
- $AVGO (Broadcom) — Buy at $415–$417
- $SOFI (SoFi) — Buy at $17–$18
- $RKLB (Rocket Lab) — Buy at $80–$81″
One of the posts also included a screenshot of what looks like a Wells Fargo account dashboard, listing the balance at $32.5 million as apparent proof of the user’s financial success.
This habit appears to be widespread with many other posts sharing similar screenshots from various banks, all at around the $30 million mark.
What’s going on with these posts?
The bizarre posts are easy to find on Threads by simply searching for “my husband and I,” with dozens of posts surfacing from minutes, to days, to even weeks ago.
The phenomenon appears to be unique to Threads, as such posts were not widespread on other apps like Bluesky and X, based on a cursory search conducted by Fast Company on Friday.
Fast Company reached out to Meta for comment. We will update this story if we receive additional details about what’s happening.
Meanwhile, many users have taken to poking fun at the strange recurring posts, whose robotic and repeated nature has led users to believe that they are generated by bots.
“My wife and I both work at the Wonka factory. I’m only going to say this once. My advice for February 31st is to cancel your plans and stay home,” a user said on Threads.
Another responded, “How can I take this seriously without a screenshot of your bank balance?”
But many more are speculating on the origins and intentions of the alleged bot messages, with some users believing that the posts are meant to be a market manipulation tactic.
“It’s micro pushing of stocks,” one user said on Threads, speculating that the activity could be an attempt to game tools that use AI as part of their stock analyses. “I think the bot farms might have caught onto something . . . The pattern might be extremely obvious to humans but not so to an AI.”
