Officials in several states are responding to reports of racist texts received by residents in the days following the 2024 election.
The Virginia Attorney General’s Office told ABC News that it is “aware of these text messages and condemns them in no uncertain terms.”
The bureau confirmed that the text language matches text received by an ABC affiliate employee 13News Now In Norfolk, Virginia, it said: “You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12:00 with your belongings. Our executive slaves will take you in a brown van. Get ready for a sweep. You have entered the plantation. You are in the W plantation team. “.
The bureau urges anyone who believes they are under threat to contact local law enforcement and their local FBI office. They could not confirm or deny whether an investigation was underway.
As of 6 p.m. Thursday, cell phone users in eight cities — Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, Houston, Huntsville, Texas, Los Angeles, Norfolk, Virginia and Tuscaloosa, Alabama — reported receiving messages.
The North Carolina Department of Justice told ABC News it is working with federal and industry partners to investigate the source of the bot texts.
The office is also encouraging North Carolinians to report these texts to the state DOJ office and local law enforcement.
The FBI said in a statement that it is “aware” of the suspicious messages and “is in contact with the Department of Justice and other federal authorities regarding this matter.”
“As always, we encourage the public to report threats of physical violence to local law enforcement authorities,” the agency said.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Communications Commission said in a statement, “Our Office of Enforcement is aware of it and is looking into it along with federal and state law enforcement.”
Local news outlets also reported mass “threatening” texts Ohio, Michigan, Alabama, Wisconsin and South Carolina
In an online statement, the Clemson University Police Department in South Carolina said it had received reports from students of text messages “containing derogatory language from unidentified numbers.”
“These numbers have been determined to be associated with online scam sites. CUPD is actively investigating the matter and working with state partners to identify the source of the messages,” the statement read.
The department said there was no credible threat to members of the local community and urged recipients to report the texts.
ABC News’ Abby Cruz, Luke Barr and Emmanuelle Saliba contributed to this report.
