A supposed art therapist who was widely quoted on psychological topics by news outlets around the world has been removed from journalist response service Qwoted after her details were found to be false.
Press Gazette analysis suggests her profile photograph and much of her output are AI-generated. We have also been unable to verify that she exists.
‘Dr Eleni Nicolaou’ has appeared more than 30 times in the media in recent months, in publications including:
— Tom’s Guide (on the benefits of sunlight)
— Psychology (on how she helped someone “finally feel their grief”)
— And Forbes (on therapist-approved ways to improve your home work station).
Her expert insights have also appeared in articles published by Glamour, Vice, Netmums, AOL and Yahoo in recent months.
Dr Nicolaou, who purports to be an expert in residence for paint-by-numbers kit selling website Davincified, claims to be an art therapist from Cyprus – but there is no sign of her practice online.
Instead, in her various online profiles on Facebook and Linkedin, everything links back to her profile on Davincified. ‘Dr Nicolaou’ did not respond to requests to verify her identity by email or sent via social media.
She has opined on everything from low-effort self-care (on Forbes) to how to retire (Parade) to ‘crying therapy’ (Glamour) and which colour to paint your wall to calm your dog (Vice).
In many cases, she bills herself as a practising psychiatrist, in one article saying: “She (a client) had undergone eight months of talk therapy before we worked together. While she said it helped her, she still felt that the grief was sitting in her chest untouched…
“But 40 minutes later, she began to cry in a way she told me afterward she hadn’t been able to do since the funeral. Not sad crying. More like a release.”
That copy scores as 100% AI-generated on AI detector Pangram, and Dr Nicolaou’s profile picture ranks 10/10 as artificial on AI image detector Identifai. Her written profile on Davincified also scores as 100% AI generated.
While she claims to have had a long career as an art therapist, her LinkedIn profile was only created late last year, according to Profileri.
In different media placements, she is variously described as a clinical psychologist, art therapist and creative wellness expert – but there is no record of her on the official Art Therapy Credentials Board which lists thousands of art therapists.
Almost her entire online presence seems to date from the last two years, and her presence online only coincides with her beginning to answer queries online in different publications.
Davincified ‘business expert’ Jacob Elban appears to be AI-generated
Another expert with a profile on Davincified who appears to work for the company (which trades as Davincified LLC and is based in Wyoming, USA) is Jacob Elban. He has been quoted as a business expert (by the website PR On the Go).
Jelena Skene, of journalist answers service Pressflow, says she was pitched several times by Jacob Elban in late 2025 to be listed as an expert but had suspicions when she saw his LinkedIn profile (which has an image which scores 10/10 artificial on Identifai).
Pressflow sent an email to check his credentials, and received an answer which Skelene described as “complete AI slop” at which point his account was deactivated.
She said: “It does not surprise me if they are pestering journalists on other platforms.. we’ve had to make some significant changes with Pressflow and now only work with paid, media-trained experts because keeping the platform open would have cost us the business or we would have had to be clearing up AI slop for the rest of our days!”
The journalist response service Qwoted has since removed both Elban and Dr Nicolaou after being alerted to issues around their authenticity.
The profiles were removed after they were found to break the site’s authenticity policies. While Davincified is a real business, and there is a real person operating the account, the experts it offers up to journalists do not appear to be who they claim to be.
Elban’s profile was convincing enough (with its own LinkedIn presence) to pass initial checks but was flagged as suspicious by other users.
Shelby Bridges, head of user success at Qwoted, said the company does not tolerate fake identities, and removes profiles as soon as they are flagged and confirmed.
She told Press Gazette: “We invest heavily in tools, team, and technology to spot fake accounts and remove them, but we’re also grateful for the vigilance of our media and PR members who flag issues and users to our attention.
“We act on any information we receive immediately, and this was one example of that. Communities tend to be self policing, and that kind of participation is a big part of how we keep Qwoted safe.
“We’re also continuing to roll out tools like video verification, giving journalists another way to confirm a source is who they say they are before including them in a story.
“Separately, it’s worth a reminder since it’s relevant here: beyond source requests, we offer journalists several tools to help vet sources, and it’s worth weighing all of them before including someone in a story. Unlike platforms that just scrape opportunities and republish them elsewhere, everything on Qwoted is sourced and managed directly.”
Davincified: ‘We take the matter seriously’
Press Gazette contacted both Dr Nicolaou and Jacob Elban via their Davincified email addresses some two weeks ago to flag our concerns and request they verify their credientials. So far we have received no response.
Davincified itself has however responded to a request for comment.
Press Gazette said via email that we believed Dr Nicolaou might not be a real person and asked if they could verify her credentials.
Davincified said: “We take the matter seriously and are currently reviewing the information relating to the profile, including information provided through third parties, as well as the related outreach, to ensure that information associated with Davincified is accurate and responsible. If we identify any inaccuracies, we will take appropriate steps to correct them.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, this email was found to be 100% AI-generated by detection service Pangram.
At time of writing, the Nicolaou and Elban profiles remain live on Davincified.
Fake personas are often created by marketing and SEO professionals for link-building campaigns in which they secure links on sites with high domain reputations, such as newspapers and other publishers.
Securing such links is enormously valuable for e-commerce companies as it makes the sites rank higher in Google search – driving business growth.
You can explore more of Press Gazette’s investigations into fake experts here.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
