Akbar Gbajabiamila, Host of "American Ninja Warrior" & 98 others busted for buying Twitter followers

It turns out many-a-great celeb have purposely purchased their followings!

According to an exposé in The New York Times over the weekend, some of these ersatz accounts aren't just bots — they're stolen identities, complete with photos of the real people they're posing as!

The company allegedly behind the creepy social identity theft is Devumi, and the amount of celebs who have Devumi followers is MASSIVE!

The Times listed 99 celebrities, everybody from Real Housewives stars Lisa Rinna and Sonja Morgan to American Idol alum Clay Aiken to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin's controversy-creating wife Louise Linton.

Republicans, Democrats, porn stars, the president of Ecuador — seriously!

A few celebs actually responded to the story; in some cases they said PR people bought the users without the celeb's knowledge (hmm), in others the stars say they were just experimenting.

The Chicago Sun-Times announced Monday night it was SUSPENDING movie critic Richard Roeper after his name was included in the article.

here are all 99 people who are apparently not as popular on Twitter as they seem:

Reality TV

Sonja Morgan (Cast member on "The Real Housewives of New York City")
Lori Greiner (Inventor and "Shark Tank" judge)
Chad Carroll (Star of "Million Dollar Listing Miami")
Melissa Rycroft (Reality TV star)
Akbar Gbajabiamila (Host of "American Ninja Warrior")
Dr. Bill Dorfman (Celebrity dentist)
Lisa Rinna (Actress, TV host and designer)
Michael Symon (Co-host of ABC's "The Chew")
Paul Hollywood (Chef and judge on "The Great British Bake Off")

Actors

Ryan Hurst ("Sons of Anarchy" actor)
Matthew Postlethwaite (Actor on "Peaky Blinders")
Katie Lowes (Actress on "Scandal")
Andrew McCarthy (Director and '80s heartthrob)
Clive Standen (Star of the TV show "Taken")
D.B. Woodside (Actor on Fox's "Lucifer")
Deirdre Lovejoy (Film and television actress)
Gena Lee Nolin (Former "Baywatch" star)
Holly Robinson Peete (Actress and reality TV star)
Jeffrey Postlethwaite (Actor on "Peaky Blinders")
John Leguizamo (Actor and comedian)
Johnathon Schaech (Actor and writer)
Louise Linton (Actress and political spouse)
Nicky Whelan (Australian actress)
Sainty Nelsen (Actor and voiceover artist)
Vanessa Marcil (Former "Beverly Hills 90210" actress)

Sports

Joey Galloway (ESPN college football analyst)
Adam Peaty (Olympic swimmer)
Brandon Phillips (pro baseball player)
Tate Martell (Ohio State quarterback)
Erik Johnson (Professional hockey player)
James Cracknell (Reality TV star and former rowing champion)
Ray Lewis (Retired football star and sports commentator)

Business

Michael Dell (founder and CEO of Dell)
Lynn Tilton (businesswoman and investor)
Peter R. Orszag (former White House budget director)
Ed Brown (Race car driver and Patrón executive)
Anurag Harsh (Marketing executive and author)
Fandom (Gaming, movie and TV fan site)
Harsh Goenka (Chairman of RPG Enterprises, an Indian conglomerate)
Jason Schenker (Bloomberg columnist and forecaster)
Martha Lane Fox (Businesswoman and Twitter board member)
Richard Wilk (Las Vegas casino and hotel promoter)
Talmon Marco (Co-founder of Juno, a ride-sharing company)

Porn

Dan Leal (adult film director)
Alyssa Lynn (adult film actress)
Holly Hendrix (adult film actress)
Jasmine Jae (adult film actress)
Mercedes Carrera (adult film actress)
Mariska X (adult film actress)
Tiffany Snow (escort)

Influencers

Nicole Lapin (TV host and financial author)
Eric Kaplan (Motivational speaker)
Sam Hurley (Personal branding guru)
Arabella Daho (Teen influencer)
Chris Voss (Tech blogger and writer)
David Papp (Blogger, author and speaker)
Dean Johnson (Designer and blogger)
Jeetendr Sehdev (Self-described "world's leading celebrity branding authority")
Kathy Ireland (Former model and entrepreneur)
Vanessa Florez (Beauty industry promoter)

Marketing

Jordan Zimmerman (Advertising executive)
Jonathan Sackett (Advertising and marketing executive)
The Honig Company (P.R. agency founded by Steve Honig)
Baruch Labunski (Chief executive of Rank Secure, a search engine optimization company)
Dionisios Favatas (Marketing executive and Adobe brand ambassador)
Phil Pallen (Los Angeles-based brand strategist)
Socialfave (Marketing firm run by Philippe Trebaul)

Media

Richard Roeper (Film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times)
Britt McHenry (Conservative writer and pundit)
Elizabeth MacDonald (Fox Business Network journalist and author)
Aaron Klein (Reporter at Breitbart News)
Bobby Bones (Radio personality and author)
Brooke Magnanti (Scientist, author and former escort)
Ford O'Connell (Republican strategist and professor)
Jacobin Magazine (New York-based socialist magazine)
Joe Concha (Media columnist for The Hill)
Melanie Bromley (Chief correspondent for E! News)
Millie Weaver (Reporter at Infowars)
Richard Karlgaard (Forbes columnist)
Sharyn Alfonsi (Correspondent for CBS's "60 Minutes")

Models

Josh Cuthbert (Singer and model)
Ellie Gonsalves (Model and wildlife activist)
Wilhelmina Models (Modeling agency)
Natalie Halcro (Reality TV star and model)
Delilah Belle Hamlin (Model and daughter of Lisa Rinna)

Music

DJ Snake (French D.J.)
Mikel Jollett (Musician and liberal Twitter personality)
Lucas Hoge (Country singer and brand ambassador)
Blackalicious (West Coast hip-hop duo)
Justin David Blau aka 3LAU (Las Vegas-based D.J. and influencer)
Clay Aiken (Singer and politician)

Politics

China Xinhua News (Chinese government-run press agency)
Lynne Patton (Federal housing official and Trump appointee)
Lenín Moreno (President of Ecuador)
Greg Ramfos (Michigan businessman)
Hilary Rosen (Public relations strategist and CNN commentator)
Melvin Gordon (Grandfather and political junkie)
Randy Bryce (Democratic candidate for Congress)
William H. Saito (Cybersecurity expert)