Well I was told by another user (I will bring him up in an upcoming post) that paying for an audience won't work this way either, because there just aren't enough users who actually read the posts and then upvote.
If I use bots at a loss and then gain followers who do not curate organically, then really, what have I paid for?
Time will tell :)
You may just be paying for the mortar for the next layer of the ponzi pyramid below you.