- The US Army issued a warning for "fraudulent" text messages that claimed the recipients were selected for a military draft.
- A spokesperson from US Army Recruiting Command (USAREC), the organization responsible in attracting prospective soldiers, told Insider the text messages were being sent "across the country from different brigades."
- The messages claimed that the sender was "contacting you through mail several times and have had no response," according to photographs obtained by Insider.
- The messages, which advised the recipient to "come to the nearest branch" in the Florida and New Jersey area, falsely claimed that the recipient would be "fined and sent to jail for a minimum 6 years" if there was no reply.
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The US Army issued an warning against "fraudulent" text messages that claimed the recipients were selected for a military draft.
A spokesperson from US Army Recruiting Command (USAREC), the organization responsible for attracting prospective soldiers, told Insider the text messages were being sent "across the country from different brigades" this week.
USAREC said it received multiple emails and calls about the text messages, and that it was in no way associated with the US Army; the people behind the emails claimed to serving in the Army.
"This isn't anything we're doing," the spokesperson said. "This is fraudulent."
The text messages claimed that the sender was "contacting you through mail several times and have had no response," according to photographs obtained by Insider.
The messages, which advised the recipient to "come to the nearest branch" in the Florida and New Jersey area, falsely claimed that the recipient would be "fined and sent to jail for a minimum 6 years" if there was no reply.
The decision to enact a military draft is initiated by the Selective Service Administration. All American males between 18 and 25 years of age are required by law to register with the organization. The database for these individuals are compiled in the event Congress declares a military draft.
"The Selective Service System is conducting business as usual," the Selective Service System previously said in a statement. "In the event that a national emergency necessitates a draft, Congress and the President would need to pass official legislation to authorize a draft."
The text messages comes amid the US airstrike against Iran's elite Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad, Iraq, on Friday. Following the attack that also killed the leader of the Shiite Iran-backed militia responsible for the assault on the US Embassy in Iraq, search queries like "World War III" and "military draft" began trending on social media platforms.
The last time the draft was implemented was in 1973, during the Vietnam War.