Isn't the move to have an established account with a couple thousand followers, then change profile pic and name and then do the $8 verify? I don't use twitter so I'm just assuming how this works.
Wouldn't the username look off? eg. if you set up with an account with something like "@cutecatpics" as the username to get followers, wouldn't it look suspicious even if changed the name to "Eli Lilly"? It will look like
Eli Lilly
@cutecatpics
You can try flipping this (legit looking username to start with), but it'll look suspicious when you're trying to rack up followers
Eli Lilly's official twitter handle was @LillyPad. The fake was @EliLillyandCo.
The part about followers doesn't matter because the number of followers someone has doesn't show up in the feed, nor is it emphasized that boldly. Someone can just make a fake account, write a fake tweet, and the retweet that tweet onto their actual account.
hilariously the font that Twitter uses has capital-i look the same as lowercase-L, so when @AppIeOfCA tweeted as a verified account, it was really hard to distinguish from the real @AppleOfCA account.