Have you seen a message — spreading through social media, email chains and text messages — about “Internal Affairs employees” from the “Ministry of Home Affairs” checking identification cards for the “upcoming census”?

The message — which dates back to at least 2019 — is a hoax, and several of our readers have contacted our “What is True?” service about it.

There are several variations of the message, but one version, submitted by a reader from Lamar County, begins with “Dear citizens” and claims to be a “High Security Notice.” It alleges that individuals pretending to be “Internal Affairs employees,” equipped with “documents and letterhead from the Ministry of Home Affairs,” are going “door to door” checking the validity of IDs for an upcoming census.

“They are everywhere and look stylish,” says the message. “They steal houses,” it continues. (It doesn’t really explain how the houses are stolen, but the message does say these so-called “employees” take photos and fingerprints for their “scheme.”)

The message ends with a plea: “Everyone needs to be vigilant! Send this to all your community groups. Please inform your family and friends.”

Viral claims like this one are designed to stoke confusion and fear, but they fall apart with just a little investigation.

Here are a few fact-based things we noticed about this message:

— The U.S. government conducts a census every 10 years, and the last one was in 2020. These “Internal Affairs employees” need to check their calendars!

— There is no government entity (in the U.S., anyway) called the “Ministry of Home Affairs.” We call high-level divisions in our federal bureaucracy “agencies,” “bureaus” or “departments.” For example, the U.S. Census Bureau, a part of the federal Commerce Department, conducts such statistical surveys.

— The Census Bureau doesn’t require a “valid ID” for its decennial count. In this survey, every person in the U.S., citizen or non-citizen, is counted. (Census officials don’t ask about citizenship status at all.)

Additionally, we noticed a few messaging things that violate our tips and tricks for determining “What is True?”:

— This message doesn’t make common sense. Like we mentioned, how are they stealing your house by checking for a valid ID? Plus, why are they checking for IDs five years out from the 2030 count?

— Who’s the source of this information? Is it coming from a local police department? If so, why are they reporting on the presumably legal activities of their government colleagues? The message doesn’t say, so we’re confident in calling it a hoax.

Remember, messages like this are designed to stoke confusion and fear, which are classic symptoms of disinformation. Unfortunately, messages like these can do serious damage. This one, for example, leaves readers with the mistaken belief that they need a “valid ID” to be counted in the census. It also puts a target on the backs of legitimate census employees, who may visit homes while conducting their community counts.

We encourage readers to share our investigation and hopefully put an end to this hoax.

Submit your “What is True?” request here.