"Higgs" The X-Twitter Account

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Looking deeper into the BM missing objects case takes you down some very odd rabbit holes.... Let us take a look at the Twitter account "Peter Higgs @Sultan1966" that is being treated as clinching evidence in this case.

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966
Curator in the Greek and Roman Department, British Museum
London and Hastings
Dołączył/a grudzień 2009
3 Obserwowanych 6 Obserwujących 

Who is its author "observing"?

Knebworth Archives @bulwerlyttonweb
Tales from the treasure house of stories - Knebworth House - home of Edward Bulwer Lytton and his family since 1490, and England's premier classic rock venue

British Museum [ Obserwuje Cię]
A museum of the world, for the world. Book tickets at http://britishmuseum.org House rules: Social Media Code of Conduct

steven munar @StevenMunarTMB
Steven Munar & The Miracle Band. Banda formada tras la disolución de The Tea Servants. Pop, rock, folk.

An odd selection it seems to me.

I suppose you can't choose who follows you, but, for what it is worth:

"Liam Kelly @iamliamkelly
Sunday Times Arts and Entertainment Correspondent [...].
[the date he joined is not stated, I suggest this was when the current story broke - Mr Kelly has apparently not written on this case]

steven munar @StevenMunarTMB
Steven Munar & The Miracle Band. Banda formada tras la disolución de The Tea Servants. Pop, rock, folk. [Barcelona joined Twitter Nov 2013]

Sally Higgs @SALLIO1
Socialist &18c literature scholar. Taking ages to finish PhD. Ageing punk, feminist, Ruskin Oxford and Cardiff Uni alumnus. Manics and psychedelic rock afficianado. [Cardiff Wales Dołączył/a kwiecień 2009]

Bradley Asmithers @BradASmithers
I love Architecture and its history, science, physics, philosophy and shy away from religious beliefs and practices. Honest, firm and fiercely loyal. Love life [Barrow In Furness Dołączył wrzesień 2012 - Tweets hidden from general view]

Rudy @SamboRadolf
Jehovah is the way [Barberton Mpumalanga Dołączył/a sierpień 2011 - Tweets hidden from general view]

Victor D. Dunn @victordunn

U.S. Senate Candidate (Scheduled to officially announce 11/9/2022) [Texas, USA Dołączył/a marzec 2009. Little activity since 2020]."

Hmmm. No classicists, no coineys.

Let's have a look at content. I'll copy it all here for the record, in case it gets deleted from Twitter. The latest post preserved is from May 2016:

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2016

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 12 maj 2016
I just uploaded 'British Museum Sicily Conference' to @academia ! http://academia.edu/25268848/British_Museum_Sicily_Conference [broken link]

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2015
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2014
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2013
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2012:
Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 4 paź 2012 Made 800 bucks so far today following this- http://t.co/ftOV7TFl [broken link to some kind of twitter -hosted advert]

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July 2011

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 18 lip 2011 Stay at home moms earns almost 4500*/mo work at home jobs online. Click here http://t.co/afNHYEo [broken link to some kind of twitter -hosted advert]

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 18 lip 2011 Local single mom makes almost $5,500* every month working from home. read it now at http://t.co/vFXrJqW  [broken link to some kind of twitter -hosted advert]      

======================= ================= 
Jan 2011   
Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 9 sty 2011 Download Ebooks - http://bit.ly/e9ACMP [broken link to some kind of  advert with an URL shortened in Bitley]

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 9 sty 2011 Films online - http://bit.ly/em7orY  [Bitley broken link]

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 8 sty 2011 Films online - http://bit.ly/e1Cpzs

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 8 sty 2011 Movies online - http://bit.ly/h6g6q4

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 3 sty 2011 Download and Watch Your Favorite Movies Online - http://bit.ly/hYrdV0 [US spelling]

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 2 sty 2011 Download Ebooks - http://bit.ly/eyB4PK

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 2 sty 2011 Download full movies online - http://bit.ly/gs3WHX

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 1 sty 2011 Watch and Download full movies online - http://bit.ly/gs3WHX


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Dec 2010   
Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 27 gru 2010 Download Movies Online - http://bit.ly/gwt08F

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 27 gru 2010 Download New Movies Online - http://bit.ly/gs3WHX

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 27 gru 2010 Download Movies - http://bit.ly/ikt4eS

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 26 gru 2010 Download New Full Movies online - http://bit.ly/ikhiLd

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 26 gru 2010 Download Movies - http://bit.ly/gs3WHX

Peter Higgs @Sultan1966 · 25 gru 2010 Watch Movies Online - http://bit.ly/eNYVBP

Well, this is an odd twitter account. The only actual content is a reference to an Academia article about a BM conference... but I am suspicious about it having an explanation mark. Academia is nothing a scholar would be getting excited about. But a bot might. [This is the exhibition: Nicholas Wroe, 'Golden years: Sicily at the British Museum' Guardian Fri 8 Apr 2016 ] Let us note the US spelling, the currency given in dollars. I was puzzled by a mother being referred to as "mom" (that's US usage) as well as "mam" (Scotland, Wales, Northumbrian dialects such as Geordie, as well as throughout Ireland and Liverpool, Kingston upon Hull, and the South Wales valleys). 

I wonder whether this is not some kind of money-making effort begun in December 2009, to use a social media account to host adverts automatically generated by bots. This is why there would be (if that really is the case, as reported in several sources) that there is a paypal account under the same name. It is then alleged that this paypal account was used in eBay transactions of some kind. that eBay account was set up enough time before August 2016 to generate 715 feedback points. This however might be nothing sinister, ebayers often sell cheap, cheerful, problem free fast-moving goods to generate such a feedback score when they start up. This could be nothing more dodgy than selling of Uncle Albert's inherited lifetime stamp collection piecemeal for giveaway prices. 

I presume that the accusers have proof that this social media account, and this paypal account belong to the real Peter Higgs, curator at the BM. The account looks like a fake to me, there is nothing here to suggest that it is not a case of identity theft. The sole reference to professional matters in 2016 could easily have been added by a bot running it (of course we cannot know what has been deleted from it post-fact). 

It is worth noting that there are nine other Twitter accounts called (varieties of) "Sultan1966" and several hobbyist forum members with the same name   facebook.com ,  Forum ,  recreational vehicles forum ,  pocket watch database , mbworld so care needs to be exercised in trying to interpret this material.

Let us note that there is mention of a Paul Higgins, and a Peter Higgs (both names are common and refer to entirely different people), a "Sultan1966" account and a "sultan1966" one (capital and low-case 's'). The deleted eBay auction number suggests the screenshot used in this accusation has been tampered with. There is the suggestion that the tipoff was generated from an initial denunciation by a fellow dealer (?) that the BM initially disregarded (perhaps because they saw it as such). What, actually, is going on here?