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 these messages was Ian Smith, who said he received them while doing homework in his school’s computer lab.

“It’s just like, oh, it’s a joke, but you’re all pretty comfortable telling that joke,” Smith said. “It’s a problem. That’s what’s disturbing.

In a screenshot Smith shared with News 5, the message told Smith he had been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation and would be ready at midnight on the dot on Nov. 13 with his belongings.

The message further told Smith that executive slaves would pick him up in a brown van and that he would prepare to be searched once he entered the plantation.

“It didn’t really seem disturbing to me until I kept watching it constantly. I’m like, “Oh, okay. Am I the only one who has had this or, is this real?’ asked Smith.

Questions Larezia Wilson said she also had questions 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 a plantation or is this a joke?” » asked Wilson.

Eventually, Wilson said she realized it was a joke.

“But you know, it’s not funny, even today. Like, why are people playing at a time like this, you know? » asked Wilson.

In this case of a more targeted attack, cybersecurity expert Alex Hamerstone believes that Smith and Wilson could have been victims if the person or entity impersonating, or using a disguise, had possibly sought out their information or had connected them to certain racial groups or organizations where a contact list could have been stolen.

“It’s one thing, you know, to be what you call it, to be a jerk or, or to be a horrible person and put your name behind it. But it’s another thing to just hide behind a cloak of anonymity to harass people,” said Alex Hamerstone, director of advisory solutions at TrustedSec.

Hamerstone does not believe the message was generated by artificial intelligence. But he and Tim Dimoff, an expert on national law enforcement procedures and security, said they are not ruling out the possibility.

“They use artificial intelligence or manually go to the web looking for people who have sent recent messages and identify their profile. and they target that,” Dimoff said.

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

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