NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Communities across Middle Tennessee are on edge after racist, threatening text messages were sent to several young people.
Parents are questioning how strangers obtained their children's phone numbers and why they're being targeted.
"I think we should take it seriously because it’s going around the world," said Sherika Mallory, whose 15-year-old daughter, Shania, received an unsettling message on Wednesday.
Mallory expressed her distress over the incident. “It makes me angry over angry,” she said.
The text sent to Shania included graphic and offensive language.
You can watch Shania and Sherika react to that message in the player above.
"It had a lot of slavery messages in there about her picking cotton, and they were going to come pick her up in a black truck," Mallory said. "She had a plantation letter and number."
Shania is not alone.
Many young people across Middle Tennessee and the country have reported receiving similar messages, venting their frustration on social media.
The messages contain racist content, often include the recipient's first name and last initial, vary in length, and come from different phone numbers. Il called two of the numbers, but the numbers were no longer in service.
Sam Zaza, an MTSU associate professor with expertise in information technology, said data breaches, a data broker, unsecured websites or unsecured apps could be to blame for how personal information was accessed.
"The information on the internet. It’s not bound to the U.S., meaning people outside the U.S. can access it," Zaza said.
While Zaza doesn’t know who sent the messages, she suspects artificial intelligence may have been involved, based on sentence structure and spelling errors.
"Maybe it’s not just stealing your information, but it was targeted to cause harm," she said.
Mallory is skeptical of the messages' legitimacy but said she’s keeping her guard up.
"Whoever it is, they need to stop," she said.
Mallory reported the incident to the Clarksville Police Department, and Metro Nashville Public Schools have confirmed some students also received similar messages. A district spokesperson urged anyone who received one to share it with investigators, who are working to trace the source.
The FBI is aware of the offensive and racist text messages sent to individuals around the country and is in contact with the Justice Department and other federal authorities on the matter.
They encourage members of the public to report threats of physical violence to local law enforcement authorities.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at aaron.cantrell@newschannel5.com
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