Community on edge after receiving offensive racist text messages

OHIO — The FBI is investigating a series of offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals across the country.

One of the people who received the messages is Ian Smith, who said he received it while doing homework in his school’s computer lab.

“It’s like, oh, it’s a joke, but y’all, you’re confident enough to say that joke,” Smith said. “This is a problem. That’s the worrying part.”

In a screenshot Smith shared with News 5, the message stated that Smith had been selected to pick cotton at a nearby plantation and should be ready at exactly 12 a.m. on Nov. 13 with his belongings.

The message also stated that Smith would have slave leaders coming to pick him up in a brown wagon and be ready to search him as soon as he entered the plantation.

“It didn’t seem alarming to me until I started looking at it all the time. I was like, “Oh, okay. Am I the only one who got this or something, is this real?” asked Smith.

Questions Larezia Wilson said she also asked when she received a similar message on her phone.

“At first I thought it was real. I started to get a little scared, thinking, “Am I going to have to go to the plantation or is this a joke?” Wilson asked.

Wilson eventually said she realized it was a joke.

“But you know, it’s not funny to this day.” For example, why are people playing at a time like now?” Wilson asked.

Cybersecurity expert Alex Hamerston believes that in this case of a more targeted attack, Smith and Wilson could have been victims if the person or organization involved in the spoofing or disguise may have researched their information or linked them to certain racial groups or organizations where the contact list could be stolen.

“It’s one thing, you know, to be, whatever you want to call it, to be an asshole or a terrible person and leave your name behind it. But it’s quite another to simply hide behind a mask of anonymity and harass people,” said TrustedSec director of advisory solutions Alex Hamerstone.

Hamerston doesn’t believe the message was generated by artificial intelligence. But he and national law enforcement and security expert Tim Dimoff said they haven’t ruled out the possibility.

“They use artificial intelligence or manually go online to find people who have recently sent messages and identify their profile. and they are focused on that,” Dimoff said.

“The only thing we have to do is protect each other,” Smith said. “That’s all we can do for now.”

The FBI is in contact with the Department of Justice and other federal authorities regarding this matter.