I have more than 1000 followers on Instagram. Whoopee! A large proportion of new followers are nice-looking men in their 50s or 60s who are widowers. They are generals in the US Army or doctors, often surgeons, or at least wealthy, and they profess to be family-oriented and God-fearing. I am so happy that these people are interested in tapestry weaving. The reason I signed up to Instagram was to promote my work in textiles.

Sometimes their command of the English language isn’t perfect, but whose is?

Dr Barnie Tawali Doran of Columbus, Ohio says that his profession is ‘Orthopedic Surgeon and Spine’.

Dr V Lyioni: ‘We treat God heal. Don’t wait too long to see a doctor. Cancer patients. Health is wealth. Your life is in your hands.’

lucky john: ‘I’m a single father of the time honey I really want to see you pictures of the inside’.

michaelab1909 commented: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction after you shared your photo on your profile, hurricanes probably broke out in the vast ocean ???? (butterfly effect theory) can we follow each other? If your answer is yes, I can happily fly into the sky

The accompanying photos are inevitably just the man himself, with male friends or with a cat or dog, relaxed, maybe on an upmarket holiday. What a lot of nice men want to be friends with me!

You don’t have to be a cynic to suspect that these photos are cloned. US Army personnel are apparently top targets for scammers, with some of the illustrated ones as examples. General Stephen J Townsend, an actual person, has no social media presence, yet you may be lucky enough to have him as a new follower of your posts on Instagram.

I used to get Friend requests from such people on Facebook, but now they have migrated to Instagram. What mechanism finds its way to scammers around the world that suggests to them the best vehicle for their ploys? Another possibility is that it is only a small number of people who send out multiple profiles.

It all makes me wonder if it is worth the effort to put up posts, which I sometimes do to boost my artist’s profile. I have a suspicion that these men are not really interested in tapestry weaving.

However, lately someone got their wires crossed. A scantily clad young woman showing off her Kardashian-type body said that she needed a friend and would like to make mature love in bed. Several suggestive emojis accompanied her proposition. Or maybe someone thought that since I hadn’t responded to the boys, I might like a girl.

I like having a diverse array of contacts from all over the world, and I do have many genuine ones who share an interest in art and textiles. And I am not the only person targeted by scammers who hope that I am a lonely old woman looking for love.

I sometimes wonder if I should ‘follow back’ some of these people to see what happens next. It could be fun to scam them back.