Yep, that's suspicious to say the least--but I'm not tagging merit abusers and I'm not sure if anyone is consistently.  Obvious ones I've seen get busted, but I don't know what the threshold is for obvious.  This is about as obvious as you get, however. 

My guess is that if they show up to defend themselves--which might only happen if they get tagged, they're going to say they're friends, or they'll give some related excuse.  I'll be a-watchin'.