Kroger Hit With Fake News Release About Cryptocurrency Acceptance

Video source: YouTube, CBS Chicago

The Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) said Friday that a press release stating the grocery store chain would begin accepting cryptocurrency payments this holiday season was a hoax.

The release, which was published early Friday on PR Newswire, a service used by many major businesses to distribute information to the media, “was fraudulent and is unfounded and should be disregarded,” a company spokesperson said. 

PR Newswire has since removed the release from its website, but not before it was picked up by multiple outlets and even Kroger’s own investor relations website, Bloomberg News reported.

The news release distributor issued an advisory to disregard the announcement but did not respond to questions on how the fake statement was published on its website, according to Reuters.

It is unclear if the fake post was meant to manipulate the price of Bitcoin Cash, but price data from Coindesk shows a spike in the cryptocurrency early Friday morning around the time that the press release spread among investors. 

Kroger is the latest retailer to get tangled up in a cryptocurrency scam.

In September, a phony press release posted on GlobalNewswire claimed Walmart (NYSE: WMT), the world’s largest retailer, would soon start accepting litecoin at its registers. 

_____

Source: Equities News