I would call this a "real clever new scam." Malicious actor gained access to the email sending platform (most likely a third party SaaS and not "proprietary software"), looked up an employee on LinkedIn and sent out the pitty party message in their name to fish for untraceable crypto donations.
Having worked in the email marketing industry in the past, i can tell you that many end-users (marketing personell) are not technically sophisticated or following best password practices.
Does it literally matter? Did you ask to have this correspondence with this assumed person? You can safely ignore it if you've answered no to either of these. If it's real, it's not your job to save everybody on this earth. If it's not real then you should really just follow the simple rule of "did you ask for this communication to happen? If not, ignore."
One way or another it's a scam.
Even if the person is telling the truth they are still violating the trust their employer has in them. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Kohlberg%27s_stages_o...
> My question: Does this look real
It looks like a scam to me, right from this sentence:
> I'm fully aware that I'm breaking the law and company rules. I know this will cost me my job and possibly more, but I have no choice.
Scam messages that elicit a sense of urgency (family terminal illness is quite common) often have this type or martyr discourse.
> If you can help, please donate to this Ethereum wallet
And this just cinches it. So this person is “risking everything” to send this plea and they ask for money in a form the recipient is unlikely to have and is linked to countless scams?
> I'm using crypto to prevent the company from intercepting or reclaiming any donations.
I don’t buy it. The wallet address is right there. If the company had any legal way of seising that money, they could do it anyway at conversion time. Or has this person found a hospital that takes cryptocurrency?