--- description: The U.S. Army has received complaints from individuals who have gotten text messages saying that they have been selected for a draft. title: U.S. Army Issues Warning About Fake Texts Calling People to Report for a Draft image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Military](/tag/military/) ## Military Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # U.S. Army Issues Warning About Fake Texts Calling People to Report for a Draft by [Josiah Bates](/author/josiah-bates/) ## Josiah Bates Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace. Jan 9, 2020 12:26 AM CUT by [Josiah Bates](/author/josiah-bates/) ## Josiah Bates Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Josiah Bates is a criminal justice reporter and a former TIME staff writer. He currently works for The Trace. Jan 9, 2020 12:26 AM CUT The U.S. Army said it has received a number of complaints from individuals who have gotten text messages saying that they have been selected for a military draft. In response, the military branch on Wednesday issued [a warning](https://recruiting.army.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2051787/urgent-news-army-recruiting-discredits-military-draft-texts/ "undefined") to say that these texts are fake. The Army did not specify how many messages have been sent out or from where they came. According to the warning, some of the messages said things like “we are contacting you in regards to the United States official army draft” and “You’ve been marked eligible.” At least one message shared in the Army’s press release threatened jail time if the recipient didn’t respond. In a statement, the U.S. Army said “fraudulent texts have circulated through the country this week” and made it clear that the text messages are false and were not from the U.S. Army. “The decision to enact a draft is not made at or by U.S. Army Recruiting Command. The Selective Service System, a separate agency outside of the Department of Defense, is the organization that manages registration for the Selective Service,” the statement said. > [](https://twitter.com/usarec/status/1214638966126891009) Since the drone strike that [killed](https://time.com/5761125/iran-missiles-trump-off-ramp/ "undefined") Iran military general Qasam Soleimani, American citizens have seemingly been in fear of a possible war with Iran. A flood of traffic to the Selective Service website [caused it to shut down](https://time.com/5758872/selective-service-war-iran/ "undefined") last week. The Selective Service put out a tweet on Jan. 3, stating that they are conducting business as usual and that if the need of a draft arose, that Congress and the President would have to pass certain legislation. > [](https://twitter.com/SSS%5Fgov/status/1213124918625345539) The last draft was in 1973\. Since then the military has been all-volunteer. However, men ages 18-25 are required to register for selective service in the event that a draft were to be reinstated. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5761864/army-fake-texts-draft/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5761864/army-fake-texts-draft/"},"headline":"U.S. Army Issues Warning About Fake Texts Calling People to Report for a Draft","datePublished":"2020-01-09T00:26:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:01:36.817Z","description":"At least one message shared in the Army's release threatened jail time if the recipient didn't respond","url":"https://time.com/5761864/army-fake-texts-draft/","keywords":["Military","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Josiah Bates","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/josiah-bates/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/military/","name":"Military"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5761864/army-fake-texts-draft/","name":"U.S. Army Issues Warning About Fake Texts Calling People to Report for a Draft"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Iran Strikes Back at U.S. With Missile Attack on Iraqi Air Bases","description":"Iran struck back at the United States for the killing of a top Iranian general early Wednesday, firing a series of surface-to-surface missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/wOALrlx7/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-01-08T01:06:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/wOALrlx7.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5761864/army-fake-texts-draft/","duration":"PT1M36S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5761864/army-fake-texts-draft/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```