That reminds me of Ethan Tremblay from the movie Due Date. He has 90 friends on Facebook, 12 are pending!!
I agree with what you say about someone with a ton of followers and the possible need to be leery of such a person. I just don't think that directing others to a spot where they encourage "exchanging" person marks is, how should I say this, the most "honest" way to get people to follow you.
But, in the end, I guess it's not that big of a deal. If they want to swap person marks, or "follow" marks to boost their total count they know that many of the marks were not obtained the old fashioned way, by earning them.