Activists Send Fake Email to Shell Workers

HOUSTON (AP) — Two activist groups say they sent an email to more than 71,000 Shell Oil employees that pretended to be from a fake company division and provided information about a U.S. Supreme Court case involving Shell.

The groups, People Against Legalizing Murder and the Yes Lab, said Tuesday that a day earlier they sent the email from Shell's "Grassroots Employee Empowerment Division," which doesn't exist.

The email detailed a lawsuit against Shell's parent company, Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS-A) , that was argued Monday before the high court. The suit claims the company was complicit in murder and other abuses committed by the Nigerian government.

Kayla Macke, a Shell spokeswoman in Houston, confirmed employees got the email and were told it was fake.

The company is investigating how the email was sent.