When 30-year-old Ali Nasrati’s phone rang late on a Friday afternoon, he didn’t think much of it. Unknown numbers often called him. But this time, the voicemail left behind asked: “Did you get fired yet?”
At first, Nasrati thought it was a prank or a scam. “Being the person that I am, I don’t really get bothered by these kinds of things,” he told Fortune.
Then, the messages started. Texts from different numbers spelled out his name, his mother’s name, and his home address, ending with: “we’re on our way.” Random calls came in that loudly insulted Nasrati and his Islamic faith.
Shaken, Nasrati drove home from his job as an IT specialist at a Virginia Walmart, where he had worked since he was 25. On the way, he got a call from Walmart corporate. A voicemail, reviewed by Fortune, said he was suspended with pay while an “internal investigation” was ongoing and asked him to call back.
Since then, Nasrati says he has left multiple voicemails for his employer but has not received a response. Walmart declined to comment.
At home, he opened his laptop and discovered the source of the harassment: an X profile called @IslamAli911, filled with posts celebrating the assassin of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk and showing Nasrati’s photo and full name.
Nasrati said the account was not his. He has never posted about Kirk or politics. His own X page mostly shows posts from a decade ago about soccer.
But it didn’t matter. A right-wing X page, “Bad Hombre”, posted screenshots of the fake account along with Nasrati’s name and workplace to over 180,000 followers.
“It was insane,” Nasrati said. “This account was made in May, not by me, but they used my Instagram and LinkedIn photos and made it look like I was the one posting. And people believed it.”
Immediately, his phone rang nonstop with Islamophobic messages. He received emails and texts telling him to leave the country. Cars followed him on the road, and he wondered if he was being watched. His mother and sister refused to stay at home, so they found another place to live.
“I’ve always felt like an American first,” Nasrati said. “But this weekend, for the first time, I felt like an outsider in my own country.”
He went to the police to file reports for identity theft and defamation. Officers told him to report the account that had targeted him, which he has, along with about 200 of his friends and family.
X, in an email reviewed by Fortune, told Nasrati that @joma_gc had not broken any X rules. The fake account that impersonated him eventually deactivated and removed all its information. X did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
A Coordinated Campaign
Nasrati’s case is part of a larger wave of online harassment following Kirk’s assassination, where critics of the conservative activist are being targeted.
A now-down site called Expose Charlie’s Murderers published the names of 41 people it accused of “supporting political violence online,” with plans to make a permanent archive from 30,000 submissions. Even people who criticized Kirk peacefully were included. Some, like Canadian influencer Rachel Gilmore, reported receiving death threats and sexual harassment.
Other X accounts, including @joma_gc and Chaya Raichik at @libsoftiktok, have continued similar campaigns. People from various jobs, including teachers, healthcare workers, Walmart employees, and even an American Airlines pilot, have been fired or suspended for their posts.
X bans posting someone’s private information without consent but allows sharing details that are already public, such as names, workplaces, or photos from LinkedIn or Instagram — all used in Nasrati’s case. Impersonation is against X rules.
Nasrati isn’t sure if he will get help from authorities, X, or Walmart. He just wants his name cleared and some safety for his job and family.
“What can I do in the future to not feel this way? There really isn’t anything I did wrong,” Nasrati said. “Do I have to disappear from social media, go off the grid, just to feel safe in my own home? It’s 2025: everyone has a social media presence. The fact that there’s nothing I can do to stop this from happening again is very scary.”
