Update: We just received a call from Shaun Morgan, who is identified on the press releases as First Mutual’s CEO, but is listed as chairman on the company’s website. His explanation: First Mutual didn’t issue the press releases. He claims that the company hadn’t even seen them up until a few hours ago and that its legal department is looking into the situation. Still some unanswered questions though, including why others that have called the company were told the investment was real. Morgan also said that the company does have an investment in a Zip Trade Technologies, but that it’s an online trading firm that hasn’t been active in several years. We’ve been promised a fuller explanation, so we’ll fill you in on anything pertinent.

A massive $45 million funding announcement from a heretofore unknown P2P internet TV firm named HD AmeriTV had us wondering whether Joost had a new, well-heeled competitor. But the lack of info on the company or its CEO (Google (NSDQ: GOOG) revealed nothing on either) had us a bit skeptical. Others, including SAI and Alarm:Clock, thought something seemed off as well. While waiting for the company identified as lead funder to return our calls, we figured out why this announcement sounded so weird: It’s exactly the same as Joost’s funding announcement from May.

HD AmeriTV: HD AmeriTV™, the world’s first broadcast-quality Internet television service, today announced that five selected parties have collectively invested approximately $45 million in the company. Each party invested in a minority percentage of the company. This funding will enable HD AmeriTV to accelerate product development, global expansion, localization, and service offerings.

Joost: Joost™, the world’s first broadcast-quality Internet television service, today announced that five selected parties have collectively invested approximately $45 million in the company. Each party invested in a minority percentage of the company. This funding will enable Joost (http://www.joost.com) to accelerate product development, global expansion, localization, and service offerings.

and

HD AmeriTV: “This funding represents a tremendous vote of confidence in HD AmeriTV’s platform,” said Lionel Whitman co-founder of HD AmeriTV. “We’ve carefully selected these investors from a variety of interested parties, as they are best-in-class in their respective arenas and bring unique assets to HD AmeriTV that will enable us to significantly accelerate growth and development of the Company.” First Mutual Credit, a leading European investment banking firm, which invests in impactful technologies that have global reach, led the round with G Trade Securities, one of the premier venture capital firm in the world. G Trade in conjunction with First Mutual Credit have been the first investor and business partner in companies that make up 10% of the NASDAQ’s value.

Joost:  “This funding represents a tremendous vote of confidence in Joost’s platform,” said Janus Friis, co-founder of Joost. “We’ve carefully selected these investors from a variety of interested parties, as they are best-in-class in their respective arenas and bring unique assets to Joost that will enable us to significantly accelerate growth and development of the Company.” Index Ventures, a leading European venture capital firm, which invests in impactful technologies that have global reach, led the round with Sequoia Capital, the premier venture capital firm in the world. Sequoia Capital has been the first investor and business partner in companies that make up 10% of the NASDAQ’s value.

In addition to the above similarities, check out First Mutual’s announcement of a $20 million funding for open source development company “Zip Trade Technologies”. Now check out this announcement form Zend, the well-known developer of PHP. You can see the full list of their announcements here. Note that all of their press releases are delivered through a site called PR Leap, a free press release service promising good search engine rankings.

We’ll let you know if we hear anything more from the company, but for now this appears to be a hoax, or a series of extraordinarily unlikely coincidences.

• Online Video Service Joost Gets Whopping $45 Million Funding; Investors Include CBS & Viacom