I think people nowadays won't be falling to these kinds of tactics, right?
You can never say that, If a fraud like that keeps on existing that means there are still a lot of people that's going to fall for it. Just do the basic math, the OP was offered thousands of dollar to spread fake news and milk some money from their clients/investors once that fake news works.
Cryptocurrency is one of the best way to do it because these fraudsters can opt to stay anonymous.
People are going to learn once they get victimize but there will always be new people that will enter crypto, this makes them continue with their motive because they know there is someone that will fall for it. They promised the writers to write articles and get paid but I don't think any writer will agree if there will be no upfront payment and much more if the offer is too good to be true but even if we say that they will be paid, this was still not right and the op did a good job there for refusing the offer.
Pretty sure good karma can come on his way and he can get more than what he supposed to receive. Anonymity features of crypto can be an advantage but it can also be a disadvantage depending on the user.