This is what happens to your stock when someone sends a fake email saying the CEO has resigned
Here's something you don't see everyday.
On Friday, shares of Italy's second-largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo spiked lower abruptly after an email was sent around that said the company's CEO was stepping down.
Except this was a hoax.
According to Bloomberg News, the fake email sent around was, "linked to a site registered on April 2 through a hosting company in South Africa."
"The mobile phone number listed for the individual named as the registrant for the domain doesn't exist," Bloomberg added.
For a brief moment, however, this had the market fooled and shares of the bank plunged before coming right back.
This is not the first time a major Italian bank has been targeted as part of a fake communication. Bloomberg notes that back in November, Monte dei Paschi, the world's oldest bank and Italy's third-largest, was the target of a similar statement that purportedly reported an offer to invest in the bank.
Here's the wild chart of Intesa shares, which ended up finishing the day up 1%.
