Social media giant X files lawsuit against Bitcoin account network for $278K fraud scheme
Social media platform X has initiated legal proceedings against multiple Bitcoin account operators, with Vivek Kumar Sen among the defendants, over claims they fraudulently secured $278,000 through engagement manipulation in creator payments.
The social media platform X, under Elon Musk's ownership, has initiated legal proceedings against individuals allegedly running a coordinated network of Bitcoin-related accounts, aiming to reclaim no less than $278,000 in creator payments that the company alleges were secured through engagement manipulation tactics.
Legal documents were submitted by X to the High Court of England and Wales this past Thursday, naming Vivek Kumar Sen, Zamyang Sherpa, along with additional unidentified account operators as defendants. The platform accuses them of fraudulently securing no less than 207,384 British pounds ($278,000) through its creator revenue-sharing program. Documentation from the court proceedings can be accessed through X's Transparency Center.
According to the platform's allegations, the defendants orchestrated a coordinated effort across numerous accounts to artificially inflate engagement metrics through mutual reposting and liking of content, while also publishing posts that were either identical or remarkably similar to one another. This activity, according to the company, generated what they characterized as a "false appearance of genuine, human communication and interaction."
The platform took action to suspend these accounts on Aug. 18, citing violations related to creator revenue-sharing fraud and manipulation of the platform's systems.
X links six accounts to two defendants
Court documents identify six specific accounts that were registered in X's revenue-sharing program: @Vivek4real_, @Bitcoin_Teddy, @saylordocs, @TrendingBitcoin, @Kalshibacktest and @PolyBackTest.
According to the legal filing, Stripe payment accounts connected to the initial three profiles are linked to Sen, while Stripe accounts tied to the remaining three profiles are associated with Sherpa. These accounts became participants in the program during a period spanning from August 2023 through February 2026.
The scope of the alleged network appears to have reached beyond these six accounts. Additional accounts named by X include @BTC_Vibes, @MrSuperBitcoin and @Laserlump, which the platform claims engaged in repeated liking, replying to, and reposting of content originating from the defendants' accounts in order to artificially manufacture engagement metrics.
How the alleged scheme generated money
The former creator revenue-sharing program operated by X provided eligible content creators with a portion of the platform's revenue, calculated based on the level of engagement their content received from other platform users.
Among the examples cited in the court filing is an incident from Aug. 5, where @Vivek4real_ and @TrendingBitcoin are alleged to have published remarkably similar posts with only 11 seconds separating their publication times.
The revenue-sharing program was discontinued by X on Sept. 7, with the platform beginning to introduce access to its successor program, Original Content Rewards, on the day following its retirement.
Beyond the allegedly fraudulent payments already distributed, X indicates it anticipates incurring costs of no less than 75,000 British pounds ($100,000) related to investigating and remediating the situation. This brings the platform's total claimed and anticipated losses to a minimum of 282,384 pounds, a figure that does not yet include interest charges and legal expenses.
Attempts by Cointelegraph to obtain comment were made through an email address associated with Sen in the court filing, however no response had been received prior to publication. Efforts to reach Sherpa for comment were unsuccessful.