Nostr: How can I tell whether an account is impersonating someone?

Short answer

Compare the full public key with a key the person has shared through a trusted channel. Display names, profile photos, and even similar-looking NIP-05 identifiers can mislead. NIP-05 only verifies a domain-to-key mapping, not a real-world identity. For money, sensitive messages, or official announcements, confirm through an independent website or direct contact before trusting a profile.

Sources

NIP-19: Human-readable encodings, NIP-05: Internet identifiers.