Fake AP News Tweet Sends Dow Plunging

Hacked account falsely claims White House explosions
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 23, 2013 1:15 PM CDT
Dow Plunges on Fake AP News Tweet
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in this file photo.   (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Hackers got their hands on AP's Twitter feed today and briefly sent blood pressures racing with an afternoon tweet that President Obama had been injured in a pair of White House explosions, reports the Huffington Post. The real AP tweeted minutes later that it was a hoax and suspended the account. Incredibly, the Dow had been up 130 points before the tweet and lost all of it within a minute, reports the Wall Street Journal. Then it bounced right back to where it was when the hoax was revealed. No official word yet on who's behind the hack, though TMZ says it's the same group that has been "swatting" celebs with phony 911 calls. (More Associated Press stories.)

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