"These are often fake Telegram, X or LinkedIn accounts offering Tier-1 PR to unsuspecting businesses, only to share a personal USDT wallet address when it's time to pay. Cointelegraph has seen plenty of such cases. In October 2025 alone, a Telegram profile styled as Tobias Vilkenson | Cointelegraph messaged BNB Chain to set up a time to chat and feature BNB Chain in a Cointelegraph article, linking to an X account under the same name with more than 6,000 followers."
"It's a textbook impostor play: borrowing a newsroom's credibility, promising coverage and moving targets into private direct messages (DMs) where the scam continues. Other Cointelegraph journalists, including Erhan Kahraman, Turner Wright and Amin (Ruholamin) Haqshanas, have also reported scammers using their names and photos this year. It's not just Cointelegraph: Impersonators are everywhere in 2025 Impersonation has become one of crypto's most common social-engineering tactics this year: used to steal data, drain wallets and blur the line between trusted media and outright fraud."
Impersonation of crypto media and influencers became widespread in 2025, with fake Telegram, X and LinkedIn accounts posing as tier-1 reporters and sales representatives. Scammers promise high-profile PR and then request payment to personal USDT wallets. Attackers clone newsroom identities, create X accounts with large followings, and move conversations into private DMs to complete scams. Other tactics include email domain spoofing to request interviews and gain remote Zoom control, fake StreamYard and Huddle links that installed AMOS stealer malware on macOS, and deepfake impersonations of officials. These tactics are used to steal data, drain wallets, and erode trust.
Read at cointelegraph.com
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