cryptoknowmics.com
Kroger Co. along with a press-release distributor is in an inspection mood. The inspection is focused on a fraudulent announcement that bypasses the grocer on accepting payment in Bitcoin Cash. This is perhaps the second perceptible scam in less than two months that links a major retailer to cryptocurrency.
A Similar Fake News States: Retail Giant now Accepting the Crypto
PRNewswire, a unit of Cision Ltd. utilized by innumerable large companies for official announcements circulated the fraud statement on Friday morning.
Kroger's investor-relations website spontaneously picked up the piece of the released announcement. The media organizations & Bloomberg News published the information. Soon after, Bitcoin Cash scotched about 5%.
Kroger comments, "This report was fraudulent and is baseless and hence it must be disregarded."
The episode evoked a parallel hoax that took place in September 2021. This fake statement targeted Walmart Inc. The news flickered on a separate wire service, GlobeNewswire, stating the retail giant would be accepting the cryptocurrency Litecoin. This piece of fake news was short-lived yet it billowed more than 30% in Litecoin before Walmart stated the information was false and the statement was deleted.
PRNewswire and Cision added the analysis is subject to eying "any criminal activity associated with this matter."
An Enormous drop on one of the largest cryptocurrencies: BTC
Although fake releases aren't appearing for the first time, cryptocurrencies would appear to yield fertile ground for deception. Trading in cryptocurrencies is mostly untraceable as compared to stocks. This allows the scammers to leave a few tracks. And traders are constrained to expect outsize price reactions to even unstable announcements.
At 12:47 p.m. Kroger dropped 2.8% to $42.21 in New York. This drop-down is stated to be the biggest decline on an S&P index of U.S. consumer staples companies. By the data assembled by Bloomberg, Bitcoin Cash fell less than 1%.