People in Gedling borough are being told to ignore a hoax message on social media which warns people not to drink Pepsi because their bottles have been contaminated with HIV.
Several readers alerted Gedling Eye to the message over the weekend which has been circulated on social media and messaging services.
The hoax message to “all citizens of the United Kingdom”, which has wrongly been attributed to the Metropolitan Police, tells people not to drink any products from Pepsi for the next few weeks as “a worker from the company has added his blood contained with HIV (AIDS)”.
The Met Police has now confirmed they did not put out the statement.
Police said “this is being treated as a hoax”, adding “the allegation is unsubstantiated”.