Building a fake trendy KOL persona requires investment, but it's become a common playbook in crypto. Here's how it actually works: most influencers can't fabricate massive PNLs anymore without getting called out. So they've gotten creative—they'll flash impressive gains on their main wallet while quietly accumulating on secondary accounts. Then reverse the pattern: dump from the main wallet while accumulating on side wallets, creating the illusion of consistent profit-taking. Some operators run even more complex schemes, layering multiple wallets to manufacture trading narratives. The market sees the main wallet's activity and assumes legitimate trading success, when it's really just a shell game moving assets between addresses. It's a costly operation depending on scale, but for someone chasing influence and followers, the ROI on a fabricated reputation can pay off quickly in this ecosystem.