X Seeks $278K Recovery in Alleged Bitcoin Account Engagement Fraud

X, owned by Elon Musk, has filed a lawsuit in the High Court of England and Wales against three alleged operators—Vivek Kumar Sen, Zamyang Sherpa, and unidentified account operators—seeking recovery of at least $278,000 in fraudulent payouts from its creator revenue-sharing program. The platform alleges the defendants coordinated a network of Bitcoin-related accounts to artificially inflate engagement by reposting, liking, and replying across multiple profiles, creating a deceptive impression of organic user interaction. Six accounts linked to Sen and Sherpa were suspended on August 18 after X detected suspicious activity, including identical or near-identical posts published within seconds of each other, such as an August 5 example where @Vivek4real_ and @TrendingBitcoin posted nearly identical content in under 11 seconds. The scheme allegedly extended beyond these six accounts, with additional profiles like @BTC_Vibes and @MrSuperBitcoin contributing to the manipulation. X’s former creator revenue-sharing program paid out a share of platform revenue based on engagement volume, but it was retired on September 7 in favor of Original Content Rewards. The lawsuit also claims X will incur at least £75,000 ($100,000) in investigation and remediation costs, bringing total losses to at least £282,384 ($342,000) before interest and legal expenses. X has not provided comment on the defendants’ responses, though Vivek Kumar Sen’s representative declined to respond to Cointelegraph’s inquiry by publication time.