KENT COUNTY, Mich. — A nationwide hunt is on for who sent racist text messages. Federal agents say the message of hate was sent to people around the country.
The message said they'd been "selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.” A West Michigan company may have a potential lead on the person or people behind it.
TextSpot handles mass texting, and the owner says his programming flagged the racist message before it was sent out to users.
"I hope you get caught," TextSpot Owner Lance Beaurdy said.
The software company started a few years ago to help companies and people send messages on a large scale.
Beaurdy explains last week, someone tried to use his system to spread this message but was flagged for review by someone within the company.
"It was held for review by our AI, that tool that we built that checks, and it's very critical of new users; we really want to make sure that we are not allowing any phishing or hate or really anything that's not allowed by wireless carriers," Beaurdy said.
He got to work trying to find the person responsible.
"Based on their phone number, it was clear that they had no intention of being caught, which is understandable," Beaurdy added.
FOX 17 tried to call the number, but it went right to voicemail. Beaurdy said they have more than a phone number.
"We were able to identify an IP address of the user, and it was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania," he said.
Now, that IP address — a digital footprint of a person’s device connected to the internet — could be fake. Beaurdy explains they may have made a slip in hiding their identity.
"There are ways using what's called a VPN to fake that, but it was an internet service provider of the IP. It's Comcast, which, again, according to ... my co-founder, Carlo, [it's] very unlikely then that they used a VPN," he said.
Beaurdy adds they’re working with local law enforcement and the FBI.
"This person needs to be reported. They need to talk to authorities. Like, you can't do that. It's not okay. America doesn't need any more of this, you know," Beaurdy said.
The TextSpot owner says their system isn’t foolproof. He adds that after this incident, his company will work to see what other precautions can be put in place to prevent this from happening.
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