There's some Reddit posts about some users who've investigated the Alpha Tech company by going there in person to Manchester, and based on what I've read, it appears to be a scam. But time will tell.
I highly doubt Coindesk would report on a scam, firstly. Secondly, usually scams take in as much money as they can scam. Alpha sold out in a few days and havent listed anymore.
Either that, or they're "smart" scam artists and decided to make it look more believable by having a fake pre-order sell out for added credibility.