I am not sure they are alts, however they are making a mockery of the trust (and merit) system.
How so?
As far as I see it, you are free to do what you want. It's your merit for a reason. You are correct, users should be able to do what you want with your merit.
Perhaps you missed the part in the OP that I was referring to:
Lately with the merit system coming out,[...] actmyname , have started giving red trust to people for sending merit to each other's account for reasons like : "Merit was sent literally minutes apart for inconsequential posts."