Been seeing a steady stream of this lately most likely since steem went up in price and now everyone's wants a piece of the pie. Unfortunately a majority of people are greedy and this is what comes of it.
However good news is steemit and steem can continue to evolve to combat this and not reward people who partake in such things.
Posting quality has always given me followers and a network of people now interested in the same things I am. Quality over quantity always wins.
Posting quality does work every time and what qualifies as "quality" is completely subjective based on the reader. Why would you want everyone to follow you when you can have
That is where the value is in the long run on this platform and you seem to be on your way to succeeding here. Congratulations.