The article is a bit laboured. "This profile photo wasn't real. And this profile wasn't real. And the company wasn't real! And the pitch documents were stolen!"
The BBC is not a top tier organisation for original reporting. Just a couple of weeks ago they basically got taken in by a crypto-bro who claimed to have made millions (what he didn't claim was that he made those millions by scamming people). They published a teaser article in the morning to boost their exclusive report on TV in the evening. Basically an hour after posting the teaser article they got called out on their naivete, and pulled the tv programme. citation: https://www.cityam.com/bbc-pulls-crypto-documentary-amid-sca...
You’re right it reads like it’s trying to be the next Theranos expose