X sues two men in London, alleging they manipulated nine Bitcoin fake-news accounts by posting synchronized tweets and repeatedly retweeting one another to create false engagement. The scheme allegedly defrauded at least £207,000 (about $277,000) from X’s Creator Fund. (Backgrounder: Threads went viral with the rumor that Xi Jinping suffered a stroke at the BRICS summit and was rushed to the hospital—301? An investigation into the rumor’s source and the truth.) (Additional context: Coinbase faced an SEC probe over “data leakage” and allegedly overstated user numbers, and its share price plunged 7% in a day.) X has sued its own users. On September 21, a London court received an indictment accusing Vivek Kumar Sen and Zmyang Sherpa of operating a set of fake Bitcoin news accounts. The pair allegedly used synchronized tweeting and mutual retweeting to manufacture the appearance of broad engagement, and allegedly siphoned at least £207,000—about $277,000—from X’s Creator Fund (the creators’ pool). The indictment was signed by X’s senior legal officer Diego de Lima Gualda and Adam Mehes, and is being handled by UK law firm Lewis Silkin LLP. 9 accounts synchronizing fake news within seconds The accounts named in the indictment include @Vivek4real_、@Bitcoin_Teddy、@saylordocs、@TrendingBitcoin、@Kalshibacktest、@PolyBackTest、@BTC_Vibes、@MrSuperBitcoin and @Laserlump. The operation is highly mechanical: nearly identical fake Bitcoin headlines were posted within seconds by different accounts in rotation. Then other accounts liked, replied, and retweeted to create the illusion that “everyone is talking about it.” These fake-news posts targeted headlines specifically chosen to move the market. For example, one account claimed that Goldman Sachs CEO was pushing a crypto bill, while another spread the message that Citibank had bought $12.6 million worth of Bitcoin—both were false. Stripe payment loophole spotted A Stripe payment vulnerability was also identified. In X’s investigation, there was a clear mismatch: these accounts all routed their payments through Stripe, but the account holders’ identities, bank account names, and emails did not match. The indictment states that for one account, the Stripe payment name was “Stefan Mann,” but the bank account and email tied to it were actually those of Vivek Kumar Sen. These accounts also shared the same device and login IDs, allowing X to trace the entire operation chain. More than just taking money—they also sell “engagement boosting” services @Vivek4real_ went a step further. The indictment says this account not only posted fake news, but also sold paid engagement services externally—and even proactively bought high-following accounts from third parties to scale up. X’s filing quotes a message in which Sen asked the other party for account purchases, saying: “Can we switch channels and keep talking? You haven’t opened a crypto chat yet. I don’t want to get in trouble because of things that X doesn’t allow. You know what I mean.” The message makes clear they knew what they were doing violated platform rules, yet they chose to keep going. X ultimately shut down all the involved accounts on August 18, citing “coordinated revenue sharing fraud and platform manipulation” as the reason. The indictment can be viewed in X’s Transparency Center: X v. Sen and Sherpa—full indictment. Ongoing watch: The creator-fund fraud and defense battle is only just beginning X’s Creator Fund was originally intended to retain creators, but this group spotted loopholes and abused them on a large scale. Based on the £207,000 figure, this was not a casual, small-scale test—it was an organized operation. This time, X chose a legal route rather than simply suspending accounts, suggesting the platform wants to establish a precedent. If more similar “account farms” are found in the future, it may not just mean taking them offline, but also pursuing damages. On the other hand, the case also highlights a gap between Stripe payment verification and platform creator verification. A Stripe account name that didn’t match the actual operator could still collect payments over the long term, indicating room for loopholes in the approval process. If X does not close this gap, it’s not impossible that another group could repeat the same trick. For the Bitcoin community, fake-news accounts are not only disrupting the information environment—they’ve become a “business,” earning money from the platform itself. This time, X’s counteraction targeted Bitcoin-area account farms; will other sectors be next (politics, AI, meme coins)? Worth watching. Related coverage Threads went viral with the rumor that Xi Jinping suffered a stroke at the BRICS summit and was rushed to the hospital—301? Rumor source and truth explained Coinbase faces SEC investigation over “data leakage” and allegedly overstated user numbers; shares plunge 7% in a day Korean crypto exchange Bithumb CEO arrested on bribery allegations! Involved in “trading the job of a lawmaker’s son” for legislative crackdowns Upbit Taiwan’s biggest crypto money-laundering case) Main suspect Qi Ren of BiWant Technology granted bail of NT$20 million—fraud of NT$1.275 billion, with involved funds exceeding NT$2.3 billion Japan AI scam “copies the boss’s voice” to call multiple companies’ accountants to send payments; total victims 4.5 billion yen “X sues its own users! 9 Bitcoin fake-account farms defraud the Creator Fund of $277,000” This article was first published on Dongqu BlockTempo (Dongqu Dongqu—most influential blockchain news media).