A report claiming that Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) received an offer to be acquired for $31 billion attributed to Bloomberg LP is fake, Twitter and a spokesman for the news and financial data provider said on Tuesday.
Twitter shares jumped on the report, which was distributed on the Internet and closely resembled Bloomberg’s news website. Its origins could not be immediately established.
Cybersecurity experts said the fake website and report did not require a high level of skill. The domain name was registered anonymously and it may take months for authorities to determine who created the site, said Rob Sadowski, director of technology solutions at cybersecurity company RSA.
The report appeared on a site named bloomberg.market, rather than bloomberg.com. The bloomberg.market account was suspended at mid-afternoon Tuesday.
The website carrying the false report was registered on July 10, according to a domain search on the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
The domain was registered in Panama to WhoIsGuard, a company which puts its own information as a web site registrant to mask the identity of the actual owner.(Reuters)