There were reports yesterday that Avon received a buyout offer for $18.75 a share - a value of over $8 billion. shares of Avon were trading about $6.60 ahead of this announcement.

The offer was alledgedly from PTG, but within a few hours Avon's reps confirmed that there was no offer - and possibly no PTG.

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News spread quickly on social media, with followers of the story even analyzing the filing sent to the SEC by "PTG capital Partners", finding that the "about the company" section of the alleged bid was copied and pasted from wikipedia's page about a different company, TPG Capital.

The fake offer originallly appeared on a regulatory website that is typically a trusted news source for investors, but now its reliability - and security - are in question.

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Shares of Avon jumped as much as 20 percent after the takeover offer appeared on the website maintained by the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to ABC News.

In a statement to Business Insider, Avon said: "In response to an SEC filing made by an entity purporting to be named 'PTG Capital Partners,' Avon reports that it has not received any offer or other communication from such an entity and has not been able to confirm that such an entity exists."