If you\u2019re a tier-1 crypto media sales representative in 2025, chances are you have an impersonator.<\/p>\n
These are often fake Telegram, X or LinkedIn accounts offering \u201cTier-1 PR\u201d to unsuspecting businesses, only to share a personal USDT wallet address when it\u2019s time to pay. Cointelegraph has seen plenty of such cases.<\/p>\n
In October 2025 alone, a Telegram profile styled as \u201cTobias Vilkenson | Cointelegraph\u201d <\/em>messaged BNB Chain<\/a> to \u201cset up a time to chat and feature BNB Chain in a Cointelegraph article,\u201d linking to an X account under the same name with more than 6,000 followers. It\u2019s a textbook impostor play: borrowing a newsroom\u2019s credibility, promising coverage and moving targets into private direct messages (DMs) where the scam continues.<\/p>\n Other Cointelegraph journalists, including Erhan Kahraman, Turner Wright and Amin (Ruholamin) Haqshanas, have also reported scammers using their names and photos this year.<\/p>\n Impersonation has become one of crypto\u2019s most common social-engineering tactics<\/a> this year: used to steal data, drain wallets and blur the line between trusted media and outright fraud. Here are a few examples.<\/p>\n Several crypto projects received<\/a> interview requests from email addresses such as team-coinmarketcap.com and matching X accounts posing as former CoinMarketCap reporters.<\/p>\n Once the \u201cmeeting\u201d began, the impostors asked participants to adjust Zoom settings and approve a remote-control request, instantly granting the scammers access to their devices. CoinMarketCap later confirmed the outreach was fake and issued a public warning.<\/p>\n Scammers cloned the branding of the popular Empire podcast and invited influencers to \u201crecord interviews\u201d through fake StreamYard and Huddle links. The downloads silently installed AMOS stealer malware on macOS, siphoning browser cookies and crypto wallet data.<\/p>\n A realistic AI-generated video of Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu circulated online, promoting an \u201cofficial investment plan.\u201d Authorities quickly debunked it and traced the scheme to a Telegram group tied to overseas scammers. Just weeks earlier, a similar deepfake featuring the city\u2019s financial secretary promoted a fake \u201cNational Hong Kong Coin.\u201d<\/p>\n Over 100 Australians received SMS messages<\/a> claiming their Binance accounts had been compromised. Victims were told to move funds to a \u201csecure wallet\u201d for protection, which, of course, belonged to the attackers.<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) received nearly 5,000 reports in the first half of 2025 from individuals contacted by impostors posing as FCA staff. The scripts often began with lines like \u201cWe\u2019ve recovered your crypto funds\u201d and ended with requests for personal information or wallet access.<\/p>\n Across all these cases, the pattern is the same: a familiar identity, a quick pivot to private channels and a request that breaks normal process, whether it\u2019s a download, a wallet transfer or a \u201cverification.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s social engineering dressed in crypto branding, and it works because it looks legitimate at first glance. That\u2019s exactly why clear verification steps \u2014 checking author pages, domains and official contact links \u2014 matter more than ever.<\/p>\n Did you know?<\/strong><\/em> In 2024, impersonation (or \u201cimpostor\u201d) scams alone were responsible for $2.95 billion in reported consumer losses in the US.<\/em><\/p>\n Two big shifts made impersonation explode in 2025.<\/p>\n First, X has overhauled its trusted verification system, replacing it with various monetized tiers for access to premium perks. The blue check no longer signals authenticity: It simply indicates that the user pays for X Premium. The old \u201cnotable and verified\u201d badges are gone, and while ID verification<\/a> exists, it\u2019s optional and inconsistently enforced.<\/p>\n The result is a messy landscape where cloned accounts can appear just as legitimate as the real ones. Some scammers even purchase Premium to make their fakes seem more credible.<\/p>\n Second, impersonation scams are booming across industries, not just in crypto. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recorded $12.5 billion in consumer fraud losses last year, the highest on record, with impersonation cases among older adults rising more than fourfold.<\/p>\n The Federal Bureau of Investigation\u2019s Internet Crime Complaint Center report<\/a> lists phishing and spoofing among the top complaint categories. It has become one of the most profitable forms of online crime, and the crypto sector, where everything happens in public and everyone is reachable through DMs, remains a prime target.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just random scammers; even regulators have been impersonated<\/a>. In January 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission\u2019s official X account was hijacked in a SIM-swap attack and briefly announced a fake Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) exchange-traded fund approval, moving markets before the post was corrected.<\/p>\n If an entire government agency can be cloned or compromised, imagine how easy it is to fake a single journalist.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how these scams typically unfold, based on firsthand reports and platform data from this year:<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s feature you \u2014 can we move to Telegram?\u201d It often starts with a polite DM from a familiar name on X, followed by a request to continue the conversation on Telegram. The cloned handle there looks almost identical to the real one.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n They ask for fees or \u201cexpedited coverage\u201d \u2014 a classic tell. Cointelegraph\u2019s sponsored content is clearly labeled and managed by a separate commercial team. No reporter will ever ask you for money to be featured. If someone does, it\u2019s a scammer or, at best, a fake PR pitch posing as editorial.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n They send a \u201cquick Zoom\u201d or \u201cverification link.\u201d Phishing emails<\/a> and DMs often copy staff names or spoof company domains to create urgency \u2014 messages like \u201cjust confirm these details\u201d or \u201cclick here to schedule.\u201d The FTC\u2019s advice is simple: Don\u2019t click anything you didn\u2019t expect. Always verify the contact through a known channel.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Look-alike handles and empty profiles are common. On X, scammers rely on slight misspellings, recent account creation dates and copy-pasted posts. Many even purchase Premium for the blue check. X\u2019s policy technically prohibits \u201cmisleading and deceptive identities,\u201d but reporting and removal often lag behind the scams.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n They use pressure and secrecy. You\u2019ll see lines like \u201cKeep this confidential\u201d or \u201cWe need this done in an hour.\u201d Sometimes they ask for a crypto wallet address \u201cfor verification\u201d or \u201creward distribution.\u201d Those are hard stop signs. They\u2019re clear hallmarks of social-engineering attacks flagged by cybersecurity agencies worldwide.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n If any of this shows up in your inbox or DMs, stop before responding. The next section walks you through a one-minute verification routine that can save you and your project from falling into an impostor\u2019s trap.<\/p>\n Did you know? <\/strong><\/em>Telegram launched @notoscam after impersonation scams \u2014 fake accounts posing as trusted figures or media brands \u2014 surged to the point that users needed an official, easy way to report them.<\/em><\/p>\n Start at the source: the author page<\/a>. If someone claims to be a Cointelegraph writer or editor, check both the “Authors” and “Management Team” tabs to verify this. Every author has a profile listing their bylines and, where applicable, verified social links, such as the one for this article\u2019s author (Bradley Peak<\/a>). Editors are listed under the “Management Team<\/a>” tab.<\/p>\n<\/li>\nIt\u2019s not just Cointelegraph: Impersonators are everywhere in 2025<\/h2>\n
August 2025: Fake CoinMarketCap \u201cjournalists\u201d\u00a0<\/h3>\n
September 2025: The Empire podcast trap<\/h3>\n
April 2025: Hong Kong deepfake officials<\/h3>\n
March 2025: \u201cBinance support\u201d text scam<\/h3>\n
Summer 2025: Fake regulators on the rise<\/h3>\n
Why is impersonation rising now?<\/h2>\n
The impostor playbook<\/h2>\n
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Verify Cointelegraph in 60 seconds<\/h2>\n
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