TL;DR: This report presents a hypothesis regarding a group of 27+ Enlightened (ENL) agents in China who are suspected of using AI-driven bots and a collusion tool ("BrainStorming") to automate INGRESS OPR reviews. The data points to a scheme of mass-approving portal spam for gain while blocking Resistance (RES) submissions. This investigation is built upon statistical impossibilities found in their profile stats. Our intent is not to shame specific individuals, but to warn the global community and Niantic Spatial about a critical vulnerability.

1. The Prologue: An Existential Threat

The peace of the Chinese Ingress community broke on February 4, 2026.

Just 20 days following the ban of Pu******—an infamous player with a reputation for fabrication and alleged IWWC fraud—a massive new scandal has emerged.

The proof didn't require inside leaks. It only required a calculator.

2. The Smoking Gun: Impossible Math

It started with a few screenshots shared in a Resistance chat. Thanks to a recent Ingress 3.4.1 update, players can now see the exact date specific medal tiers were unlocked.

Case Study 1: @Ex************

Jan 1, 2026: Unlocked Platinum Recon Medal (5,000 Agreements).

Jan 8, 2026: Unlocked Onyx Recon Medal (10,000 Agreements).

The Math:

Difference: 5,000 agreements in 7 days.

Daily Average: ~714 agreements/day.

Assuming a generous 50% agreement rate (Great rating), this requires 1,428 reviews per day.

Even at a superhuman speed of 15 seconds per review (risking cooldowns and captchas), this would take over 5 hours of non-stop reviewing every single day.

Is this realistic? For a human with a job? No.

3. The "5x7 Hour" Myth

I know what it takes to grind Recon. I once owed 1,600 points for a Official Wayfarer Cap and it took me three months to pay it back. I review carefully. But this agent, @Ex************, accomplished in 3 days what took me months.

To maintain that pace—1,250+ reviews daily, 15 seconds each, for a week straight without triggering Nia's anti-cheat cooldowns—is humanly impossible.

4. Not Just One "Madman"

You might argue, "Maybe he's just a maniac?" But then we found @y***

  • Dec 27, 2025: Platinum Recon.

  • Jan 2, 2026: Onyx Recon.

  • Another 5,000 points in roughly a week.

We dug deeper and uncovered 27 ENL agents with identical, statistically impossible Recon growth spikes in late 2025 and early 2026.

Are we expected to believe these are just 27 'maniacs' who all coincidentally decided to grind OPR for 6 hours a day, simultaneously? Or is there a more logical explanation?

The answer is obvious: Collusion and Automation.

5. The Hitory of "BrainStorming" (BS)

Context: For years, Chinese ENL have operated a tool called "OPR BrainStorming" (BS). It’s an IITC plugin that records review data and shares it. If a senior player rates a portal 5 stars, the plugin show it to everyone, and else might do the same.

They call it "Collective Wisdom"; But we call it Review Ring/Collusion.

In April 2025, the BS system abruptly—and quite miraculously—declared a 'permanent shutdown'

Hello users,

Thank you for your continued support! However, we regret to inform you that this system will be permanently closed later today.

Services will no longer be provided in the future; please complete all important operations as soon as possible.

Thank you again for your understanding and support!

Then, late in the year, the pack woke up. These 27 accounts suddenly—and suspiciously—went into synchronized overdrive."

"When you strip away the excuses, the numbers point to only one reality:

The BS system didn't die; it evolved. It was integrated with AI Agents (like the recent Clawdbot).

  1. The Code: ENL developers created a script to automate the browser.

  2. The Brain: The AI uses the historical "BrainStorming" database to decide: "Is this Pro-ENL? Approve. Is this RES territory? Reject."

  3. The Result: A 24/7 automated review farm requiring zero human effort.

Given the evidence currently brought to light, this stands as the most likely explanation.

6. The "Grand Game": Weaponizing OPR system

What has this "AI + Cheat Ring" achieved?

Mass-Production of Spam Portals: They approve anything in their favor. A single patch of grass now hosts dozens of "Fitness Equipment" portals (generic spam), creating dense farms for item farming.

Targeted Denial (Geofencing): Valid submissions in Resistance-heavy areas are systematically rejected. High-quality murals or statues? Rejected as "Duplicate" or "Low Quality" by the AI swarm because the coordinates fall inside a "Blue Zone."

The "Duplicate" Trap: When they mark your valid new submission as a "Duplicate" of a distant portal, your photo gets merged onto that portal. We have cases where a "Guide Map," a "Red Boat," and a "Power Box" were all marked as duplicates of a nearby portal. This requires 10-20 reviewers to all make the same "mistake." That's not an accident; that's a script.

Strategic Vandalism: They edit titles and descriptions of strategic portals (anchors).

  • Example: The "ACC Monument" in Beijing (a key RES anchor). They flooded it with edits changing the description to: "Taking photos here is illegal! You will be prosecuted!" intended to scare players or get the portal relocated or removed.

Trash POIs: "Luckin Coffee #22520", random street corners, generic plants. If it's green territory, it passes.

7. The Losers

  • The Resistance: We can't get portals approved, and our existing ones are vandalized.

  • Fair-Play ENL: Those who don't want to cheat are associated with this rot.

  • Niantic Spatial: Their "Lightship" database is being filled with garbage. They want to sell a "Real World Metaverse," but their database is becoming a digital landfill of fake coffee shops and non-existent statues.

8. The Investigation: "Prophet Squad"

After noticing the anomalies, a group of Chinese RES players formed the "Prophet Squad."

Over 4 days, 44 agents manually audited 800+ ENL profiles, battling server lag and cooldowns.

We identified 27 confirmed cheaters and the list is now with NIA spatial.

9. Conclusion

Looking back at this investigation, I take no joy in its conclusion.

It reminds me of the opening lines from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children: 'With every battle comes sorrow... swallowing ambition and grief alike.'

I feel only a sense of loss. Among these 27 agents were figures who were once well-known and respected. Some of them are gifted programmers capable of writing brilliant code, yet—tragically—they chose to walk a darker path.

10. The AI Delusion: Why This Report Matters Globally

This investigation is about exposing a systemic risk that threatens the very foundation of the Wayfarer platform.

1. Speed is Not Quality

Clearing the backlog instantly sounds appealing, but at what cost? AI "hallucinations" are real. When an automated script reviews thousands of portals based on flawed data, it doesn't just make mistakes—it amplifies them at scale. Garbage in, garbage out, at supersonic speed.

2. The Industrialization of Bias

Collusion rings (voting cabals) have always existed. However, automating them with AI removes the human bottleneck. What used to require coordination among dozens of people now only requires one script. Bias is no longer a localized nuisance; it is now an automated, scalable weapon.

3. The Human Element is Non-Negotiable

The core philosophy of OPR/Wayfarer is "Human Review." We are training Niantic's dataset. If players are replaced by unsupervised scripts, the data quality degrades immediately. If Niantic spatial wanted AI to review portals, they would use their own enterprise models—not cheap, biased 3rd-party scripts run by players for in-game advantage.

4. A Global Warning

Make no mistake: This is not just a "China Problem." The tools used here—browser automation, AI vision APIs, and shared databases—are available to everyone, everywhere. If this "efficient cheating" model proves successful in China, it will be replicated in Europe, the Americas, and beyond.

5. AI-Driven vs. AI-Manipulated

We understand that Niantic wants to build an "AI-Driven" VR map of the world. But there is a critical difference between a system assisted by AI and a database manipulated by it. We are not here to shame specific individuals, but to highlight a phenomenon: When the "Real World" database becomes a playground for bots, the game is over.

To NIA spatial:

We have done the heavy lifting.

The evidence is undeniable.

These bot farms are actively destroying the core integrity and commercial value of your platform.

To the abusers:

We will not let this game be destroyed by people like you.

This report is a collaborative effort by over 44 Chinese Resistance agents who care deeply about the game. They are @shadowhunterlee @Areskyo @WILSEY1016 @PlzEnjoyGame @LuoboTix, etc. I would like to pay my highest tribute to these volunteers.

“To those who once loved this world

and spent happy times with friends in this world."

（For the English video version, please watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZDLhcls5d0）