[...]
there are three possibilities:
1) bitcoins were counterfeited
Not possibel, as far as we know at the moment.
2) the author is intentionally misleading readers with the headline
I agree. The headline also made me think this article is just another crap but i changed my mind after reading it.
3) the author is stupid
Not after carefully reading and understanding the article. I read much worse articles in the last days about bitcoin. Beside the facts claimed about what happens it seems the author know the technology he is writing about. And therefor i still can't call him an idiot.