Racist text messages sent to Black men, women and children are under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). 

The anonymous texts went to people in several states, including New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, California and Alabama.

The messages implied a return to slavery and encouraged recipients to “pack their belongings.” Some texts called recipients by their name. 

Cybersecurity expert and assistant clinical professor at the University at Buffalo School of Management Dominic Sellitto, said it's important to know this was accomplished using an automated program maliciously, and that this was not anyone recipients knew personally. 

“They have the data. These are targeted campaigns meant to cause this sort of grief [and] cause this sort of strife,” said Sellitto. “And I think one of the things that we're going to see from the organizations that hosted the free numbers where these messages came from are going to have to do better.”

When consumers sign up for an account linked to their name and phone number, data trackers can use certain algorithms to make educated guesses about demographics.

Sellitto said this is not the fault of the consumer and protecting oneself from these things might not be easy.

“We as a society give our information, our cell phone numbers, our email addresses or things like that for everything from online purchases to in-store things, to just signing up for text notifications about everything for two-factor authentication, for everything,” he said. “And so I think it's going to be really, really difficult, if not impossible.” 

New York State Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement:

"The racist text messages targeting New Yorkers, including middle school, high school, and college students, are disgusting and unacceptable. I unequivocally condemn any attempt to intimidate or threaten New Yorkers and their families. I encourage anyone in New York who has received an anonymous, threatening text message to report it to my office.”

James encourages anyone who received these messages to report them to her office by calling 800-771-7755 or emailing civil.rights@ag.ny.gov.  

Sellitto said if this incident has people curious about their online accounts, they can disable anything they no longer use.

To do so on Android devices, go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Privacy > and select your preferred settings.

To do so on Apple devices, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > and select your preferred settings in each app as well as Analytics & Improvements and Apple Advertising.