London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Jul 19, 2025

The US Government Is Texting Russians Offering $10 Million For Information On Election Interference

The US Government Is Texting Russians Offering $10 Million For Information On Election Interference

“I thought that this was some type of fraud,” Russian Artyom Vysokov told BuzzFeed News. “Sending such text messages through a service that usually sends spam was not the best idea.”
When Artyom Vysokov received a text message offering him as much as $10 million for information on Russian election interference from a number used mainly for distributing spam and phishing messages, he thought it was “some type of fraud.”

But then he saw reports from several Russian news outlets about other people receiving similar messages on their cellphones and realized they were coming shortly after the US State Department announced a new campaign to defend the American presidential election from foreign attackers.

“I realized that I was wrong and this is really true,” Vysokov, who runs a blog about monetizing websites, told BuzzFeed News. “But sending such text messages through a service that usually sends spam was not the best idea.”

On Thursday, Russians shared screenshots of SMS messages apparently sent by the State Department with the offer of huge monetary rewards for information on hackers trying to interfere with the November presidential election. Many of them - from residents of Vladivostok in the far east and Yekaterinburg at the foot of the Ural Mountains to Vysokov in Volzhskiy in the southern Volgograd region - were rounded up and shared by Russian tech news site TJournal.

And they weren’t the only ones. According to Reuters, Iranians were sent the same messages to their cellphones. Written in Russian and Farsi the text messages say: “The United States pays up to $10 million for any information on foreign interference in American elections.” They include a link to the US Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Program, which offers cash bounties in return for information about threats to American national security. For the Russians, the link jumps to a verified Twitter account with the State Department logo that was created in February. There, Russian-language tweets provide readers with more information about the program.

The texts came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the US was now offering up to $10 million “for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, interferes with U.S. elections by engaging in certain criminal cyber activities.”

While many people who received the texts questioned their legitimacy, a State Department spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that they were in fact real. “This is a worldwide campaign in multiple languages,” the spokesperson said. “RFJ has used this and a variety of other messages to inform the public about its rewards and program.”

In a Facebook post, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova poked fun at Pompeo’s announcement, joking that many people would want to cash in on the offer. “Now the State Department’s site will go down from denunciations about its neighbors,” she wrote.

As news of the texts spread on Thursday, she posted another statement. “By calling on people to talk for money about interference in American elections, the American special services are unceremoniously interfering in our life,” Zakharova wrote. She accused Washington of targeting Russians in a manner similar to what American intelligence officials have accused Moscow of doing. “What is this if not a real hybrid attack?” she said.

The State Department’s blanket text message campaign comes after Russia’s attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, which cast a shadow over the presidency of Donald Trump.

Ahead of the November election, Democratic lawmakers have raised the alarm about what they say are active attempts by Russia to interfere and called for the FBI to share information about the effort.

Of particular concern to Democrats is an inquiry being led by Republican Ron Johnson, chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which is looking at the work that Joe Biden’s son Hunter did in Ukraine while Biden was the Obama administration’s point person in the country.

Democrats allege Johnson is using disinformation from pro-Russian Ukrainians to in his inquiry, an accusation that the Republican senator denies.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
×