Broadband subscriber-management-system provider Alopa Networks Inc. was
apparently the victim of an electronic-mail-driven attempt at corporate
sabotage.
On Friday, a press release, supposedly issued by Alopa senior marketing
manager Ramin Ekhtiar, was sent to trade journalists claiming that the Santa
Clara, Calif.-based company had been denied its second round of funding from its
initial investors.
The problem is, the release, stamped with Ekhtiar's e-mail address, was a
fake.
Alopa CEO Joe Kilmer sent out a statement Monday saying that Ekhtiar had not
issued the Friday release and that it was a hoax.
'Nothing could be further from the truth,' he said. 'We are currently
investigating, along with Yahoo! [Inc.], into the source of the counterfeit
release.'
He added, 'We are funded by the well-known Summit Accelerator Fund and Lucent
Venture Partners [LLC], both of which continue their support and participation
in our company. To suppose that our funders would abandon their position with us
now is simply absurd.'
Whoever sent out the fake release also wasn't much on spelling. At one point,
the false release noted that Alopa customer GCI was an 'Alaskian cable
television operator.'
