Still appreciate the suggestion, but would love to solve it without creating a self moderated thread though

Set local rules, in which you specify that from this moment onwards, certain users are no longer allowed to post in the thread. If they continue, report the posts and point out to the Mods that they break local rules.
Or:
Hire an independent user to manage a self-moderated thread.
It does look suspicious that they all registered recently.
These users have posted in
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1952324.0:
1. 171x
Nimiq (
3 Merit earned) (
BPIP)
2. 121x
rngkll (
BPIP)
3. 109x
nimiqshitcoin (
BPIP)
4. 102x
F2b (
161 Merit earned) (
BPIP)
5. 88x
CryptoNeed (
3 Merit earned) (
BPIP)
.........
.........
See the full list
here. Use this list to find and report offenders.