I have similar feelings after my @votum contests were targeted by the spaminator account which is managed by the same gang that spams the SFR trail. Who knows how many unique persons are behind these accounts or if it is even more than 1 person multiaccounting. After looking into their network I think they are using the following tactics to establish long term control of the rewards pool:

• Normalize downvoting and permissioned posting such that your content must be approved by their group to receive rewards.
• Reap rewards for their flag trails through SFR. If they run out of actual spam then they can create alternate accounts to fake spam then comment farm.
• Use the magicdice account to receive large "random" upvotes for their comment farming.
• Manipulate users who they disagree with to leave the platform. They will disguise their reasons for flagging as "bid bot abuse" or "spam" but the real reasons will be hidden political or personal issues such as anti-vaccines, anti-Israel, or pro-marijuana.

I wouldn't be surprised if this group was managed or affiliated with the leftovers of Steemit Inc as they have control over the spaminator and steemcleaners account. After I refused to join their discord because of port scanning IP leaks in the software I was told connecting to Steemit condenser was just as vulnerable by one of their members and have since been getting random disconnects like DDOS when connecting to steemit.com.