OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Atoch Akuen, like many 19-year-olds, uses his cell phone to browse social media and talk with his friends.

On Wednesday night, a text message from a random number left her scared and nervous.

“I read it and I was just in shock. I froze. I didn’t know what to do,” she told 6 News.

Some of the text messages appearing to target Black people across the country are said to be personalized.

Akuen’s was not.

“My colleague, after seeing the message, put the number on Cash App and we tried to see who the number could belong to, which did not show up. We tried to call the number, but the number did not go through,” Akuen said.

Douglas Wesselmann told 6 News his granddaughter, also 19, received a similar text message.

“My granddaughter… is Asian and black. Of mixed race and a very proud young woman. But it really upset me,” Wesselmann said.

6 News called and texted each of the numbers but received no response. The source of the text messages still remains a mystery.

“How did they get all the information so that only black students and black people understand this message? There should be no way they can do that,” Akuen said.

But what is not mysterious to Wesselmann is the existence of racism.

“It makes me sad and it makes me angry. And you know, we can be a lot better than that,” he said.

The FBI said it was aware of these text messages and are in contact with the Department of Justice and other federal authorities.

Anyone who receives one of these messages is advised to report it to local law enforcement. People can also report spam messages to Federal Trade Commission.

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