When Crypto Scammers Use Fake Identities and Send Press Releases

When Jakob-Moritz Eberl clicked on the link to the cryptocurrency company’s website, he was stunned by what he saw: his own face staring back at him.

His headshot was displayed under the name “Mason Jones” and the title “Senior Blockchain Engineer” as one of six men the site said were on the team behind InfinityStakeChain. A nearly identical website for a platform called FlexyStakes used the same photos under different names, identifying Dr. Eberl as “Noel Brennan.”