This morning, Bitcoin Cash saw a sudden price spike after the publication of a Fraudulent press release. The press release claimed that Kroger (U.S supermarket giant) would be accepting the cryptocurrency as payment this holiday season.
After the announcement, Bitcoin Cash rose 4.6% from $602.63 to $630.70 in less than 15 minutes. However, the spike was short-lived and the coin proceeded to fall below the price it had been prior to the announcement upon the realisation that it was fake.
The announcement was published on the Newswire and also appeared on the Kroger website, It claimed that the grocery retailer would be accepting Bitcoin Cash for all in-store and online purchases from December 1st.
Later in the morning, a company spokesperson revealed that this announcement was fraudulent. The press release has now been moved from the company website. The spokesperson said, “This morning a press release was fraudulently issued claiming to be The Kroger Co. that falsely stated the organization will begin to accept bitcoin cash. This communication was fraudulent and is unfounded and should be disregarded.”
The announcement is largely similar to a fraud that occurred back in September which stated that Walmart would accept Litecoin. Bitcoin Cash is the world’s 21st largest cryptocurrency and was formed out of a hard fork on the Bitcoin network.
The coin has dipped since this morning’s announcement. Many investors have caught onto the fake news and are now wary to invest in the coin. Details of how the announcement managed to get out have not yet been revealed.
November has been a big month for fraud so far with the recent Squid Game pump and dump leaving investors with nothing. The crypto market is incredibly volatile and a surge of new users have made it easy for scammers to take advantage of less experienced players.
