Samsung Electronics Co Ltd was forced to issue a statement denying reports of the company acquiring biometric and fingerprint technology company Fingerprint Cards AB.

A press release published through Cision AB, a Swedish public relations software company, read that Samsung had acquired Fingerprint Cards for USD650 million. The press release appeared to be scrubbed off from every public relations aggregator way before Fingerprint Cards issued a second press release on its website.

The press release from Cision Director Customer Operations Helén Rigamonti read, "At 10:30 AM a press release from FingerPrint Cards AB with the headline "Samsung Electronics to acquire Fingerprint Cards AB"" was distributed by Cision. The press release was incorrect. Cision apologizes to Fingerprint Cards AB and other stake holders for this error."

Fingerprint Cards had said that the incident had been reported to financial and police authorities. The company was not clear whether it would seek legal action.