It’s clear now that many of the 626 “Likes” registered to the “Elan Firpo for DA” Facebook page are stone cold fakes — bogus support from people based in such far flung locales as Bangladesh, Tanzania and Cuba.

The big mystery that remains is who’s responsible — a supporter looking to position Firpo as the early frontrunner? Or an opponent looking to paint her as a dirty campaigner?

Yesterday we asked why Firpo’s page was so popular in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a city known as an international center of “click farming.” That’s a 21st century business in which companies (like this one) offer to boost the popularity of social media profiles for relatively small fees. Those companies then (under-) pay workers to sit around and click “like” on whatever pages their customers request.

We’ve spoken with Firpo and campaign worker/personal friend Jaison Chand a number of times since this came to our attention. Initially, they both expressed confusion about the Bangladesh connection and, after digging through several hundred supporters, said they couldn’t find any from outside the country.

This morning we walked them through a process to bring up the entire list of supporters, which turns up some truly suspicious accounts. For example, more than 50 of Firpo’s “supporters” hail from the African city of Arusha, Tanzania:

And many “supporters” have logged thousands of “Likes.”

As you can see above, those who like “Elan Firpo for DA” also tend to like Skunk Revolution, an online head shop. (More than 100 accounts like both.) More than 200 Firpo fans like “The Wu-Yi Tea Company,” based in Austin, Texas.

We counted at least 130 “supporters” living outside Humboldt County. Many supposed U.S. residents claim to reside in such unlikely towns as:

• Utah, Tennessee
• Georgia, Alabama and
• Wyoming, Wyoming

Also suspicious: A bunch of campaign “supporters” have shared the exact same items on their timelines:

After we explained to Firpo how to find these fakers, the tone of her voice sank. “I think somebody bombed my page,” she said. We pointed to more evidence of fakery and told her that more than 130 of her supposed supporters live elsewhere. “Goodness sakes,” she said. “How do you stop this from happening?”

She said she’d bring it to the attention of Chand, who’s handling social media for the campaign. He called 10 minutes later to ask how to find the bogus “likers.” After being directed to them, he, too, sounded upset. “So is there a way to get rid of them?” he asked. 

Chand spent a few minutes looking the list over and asking for help figuring out how to delete the bogus accounts. “There’s no way to remove them, is the problem,” he said. Amid his confusion Chand managed to find some amusement in the whole affair. He chuckled upon finding someone from Tanzania. “That’s a fake,” he said.

Finally Chand found that he could “block” the phonies and they’d disappear from the page. “Yup, that seems to work,” he said with a sigh of relief. “I’m gonna go through and make them go away.” He said he’d take the page down while he weeded out the charlatans.

Asked if he had any idea who could be responsible he said, “I don’t even know how it happened, let alone who might have done it.” After a pause he admitted, “I have ideas but I’m certainly not going to make accusations.”

Firpo said that she doubted it was anyone involved in her campaign, including Richard Salzman. But neither could she definitively rule that out. Regardless, she said her intention is to get the Facebook page cleaned up and move forward with her campaign.

(An aside: Chand has seen comments online about his relationship with Firpo. He said, “Elan is a very good friend of mine. I am helping her whenever and wherever she needs help in the campaign because I believe in her candidacy. The exact nature of our personal relationship is not germane.”)

OK, so what’s the takeaway from this? For one thing, the shenanigans have clearly begun. In Humboldt County, no office is as insanely politicized as district attorney, and while we may not know who astroturfed Firpo’s Facebook page, the game is obviously afoot.

Welcome to DA politics, Humboldt style.