What stops you from writing fake press releases?

You might have read this story about this fake Gucci advert. In short, a struggling model booked a double spread advertisement into a Swiss Newspaper. He told the paper to send the £50,000 invoice to Gucci.

It's a bold and tenacious move, but it did made me speculate over the safeguards to stop fake PR. How hard would it be to issue fake press releases on behalf of companies?

I've yet to come across a journalist who checks we actually are the PR agency for our client. So what is stopping any mischievous chap registering a domain name and sending out press releases without permission?

I recall a situation at one client of apt marketing & pr, where a group of disgruntled ex-employees had registered a very similar domain name and used it to slander our client. The website had very limited impact. But what if they had instead registered a PR agency sounding domain name, and drafted press releases purporting to be from the company?

The scary thought is that this could be done anonymously by the vaguely tech-savvy. They could set up a Skype line for journalists to call for further information, perhaps even interviews. Fear the possibilities:

- Company CEO resigns due to stress
- Company X closes customer service branch
- Company X issues profit warnings
- Company X apologises for sexual misconduct

Anyone that thinks this isn't feasible would do well to read this. It's a report by the Triforce about how they created a media hoax which gained coverage in major publications around the world.