Hey Sherry, this is really annoying. Back in the day when writers were paid for the number of claps they received people also tried to game the system by meeting on Facebook, sharing stories and clapping 50 times for one another.

The new earning calculation doesn't care about the number of claps (one clap= fan) but about the followers/engament in general. I'd report this person and let Medium know about it.

However, Medium already shared that they know the system isn't perfect and can get hacked...