This just goes to show that we need to be ever vigilant these days when it comes to our electronic communications.

A very official looking release came in by email today with the headline “Mexico Grants Monsanto Approval To Plant Large-Scale GM Corn Fields.” It had technical details about varieties and quotes from Monsanto and Mexican officials. Without double-checking on it, we went ahead and posted it as worded, although we did notice it had not been posted on the Monsanto website.

We were quickly notified by Monsanto that it was hoax and we immediately pulled the post down. A post on the Monsanto Blog explains that the release came from “an unidentified cyber group” that developed and posted a deceptive web page called www.monsantoglobal.com designed to appear as though it was posted by Monsanto. “This page and its related communications, including a fake news release entitled “Mexico Grants Monsanto Approval To Plant Large-Scale GM Corn Fields,” are an intentional misrepresentation and are not in any way associated with our company.” Monsanto officials further say that information on this “hoax web site and its related communication properties has been turned over to the appropriate authorities to further investigate the matter.”

We admit it – we got scammed. You can be sure that this was a lesson learned for us – check our sources before we post or tweet, just in case.