The messages from two crypto contacts came a couple of weeks apart — and to be honest, one of them freaked me out.
“Booked a time for our conversation. Please check if it works for you!”
Either the beer I’d been drinking was much stronger than advertised, or my memory was failing me. I didn’t remember arranging a call with this guy.
Then the screenshot came. Someone pretending to be me on X — complete with a blue checkmark — had arranged an “interview” by sliding into their DMs.
“Are you interested in discussing your project for a potential article? Look forward to hearing from you.”
Thankfully, I was able to warn them it was a fraudulent account before the video call took place. If it had, the consequences could have been disastrous.
Can you spot the difference?
‘Vigilance is Critical’
Side by side, it could be difficult to tell which “Connor Sephton” profile is real. You’d instinctively trust the one with a verified badge, but my page is the one on the left, which has four times more followers.
The scammer’s bio has a few giveaways. For one, I haven’t worked at CoinMarketCap for three years. Two, I still work at Sky News. Three, the bogus account only ever reposts CMC content. And four, if you scroll back long enough, you’ll start to see pictures of a dog I’ve never had.
It looks like my impersonator has taken over an old X account so they could pretend to be me. But what’s the motivation — why would they want to do this? Roman Wiligut, the chief marketing officer at dTelecom, told Cryptonews:
“At first, the offer seemed professional and well-structured — we were genuinely interested. The account looked convincing, with reposts and relevant content. But when the conversation quickly turned to payment, I grew suspicious. Since I had worked with Connor before, I contacted him directly, and he confirmed he hadn’t reached out. It was a scam. In a rapidly evolving industry like AI and Web3, vigilance is critical.”
OK, so it seems like this scammer is hoping to make a quick buck — deceiving crypto companies into paying for coverage. But some of these cybercriminals are even more nefarious.
One popular dog groomer recently told the BBC she had been invited on to a podcast, but then asked to grant access to her Meta Business Suite. That means they could ultimately take over and remove access to her social media accounts. Worse still, the victim had lost 300,000 TikTok followers in a previous hack.
Similar incidents have happened in the crypto space, too. One PR professional — who asked to remain anonymous — told Cryptonews what happened when their client was targeted by scammers.
“The podcast itself was four people without their camera on, using crypto journalists’ names. The meeting was about 50 minutes with the camera off, and they were talking the whole time. Very good English, but it felt like an amateur interview. The scammers asked my client if they could take control of his screen on Teams. It basically confirmed his suspicions something was wrong. He shut it all down shortly after. It seems he caught it before funds were hacked, but we are still not 100% sure what they have access to.”
The PR worker added that social engineering scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated — and there’s no such thing as being careful enough.
“If someone is targeting your funds, they disappear fast.”
He told me he felt embarrassed that he hadn’t spotted the red flags before his client went on the call. But it’s fair to say that most of us wouldn’t initially treat an interview as suspicious.
The dog I don’t have
X-tra Lazy
In both instances, I’ve told the crypto projects contacted by “fake Connor” to report the profile to X. I’ve reported it too. Six weeks on, it’s still there.
X isn’t doing anywhere near enough to clamp down on scammers. And Elon Musk’s decision to open blue checkmarks to anyone who pays a small fee has been disastrous.
This isn’t even the first time I’ve been impersonated. A few years ago, another crypto chancer mimicked me on Instagram, where I have an account I don’t really use.
Hilariously, that bogus account had three times more followers than I did — meaning many of my friends linked up to that one instead. The bio described as a “crypto freelancing coach.”
In one awkward moment, that scammer messaged “hello there” to one of my colleagues — then blocked them when they sent a friendly reply. That worker ended up avoiding me for weeks, because they genuinely thought I’d fallen out with them.
Beyond the scammy adverts, rampant misinformation and AI slop, impersonators are yet another reason why Elon Musk’s X has become a cesspit. Whenever you’re next talking to someone online, don’t trust — verify.
The post Crypto Scammers Are Impersonating Me — X is Doing Nothing About It appeared first on Cryptonews.
