Did police find encrypted messages on Alex Pretti's phone that showed the ICU nurse was a "key player" in coordinating a plan to create the chaos that led to him being shot to death by federal agents in Minneapolis? No, that's not true: Although an article claims that revelation is "sending shockwaves through the public," there is no credible reporting to be found anywhere supporting it. The website and Facebook pages spreading the claim are part of a spam network based in Vietnam that uses AI tools to target Americans and Europeans with fake clickbait. We call it Viet Spam.
The claim originated in an article (archived here) that was repeated in a post (archived here) shared on the Celeb Buzz Daily Facebook page on January 31, 2026. It opened:
The mystery of Alex Jeffrey Pretti has just entered its darkest chapter. While his family continues to fight for a 'hero' narrative, investigative sources have dropped a bombshell that is sending shockwaves through the nation. Police have reportedly uncovered a series of encrypted messages on Alex's phone indicating he was in active contact with individuals present on the day of the chaos--not just to talk, but to discuss a coordinated 'plan.'
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Sun Feb 1 02:08:52 2026 UTC)
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
The post continued:
This new evidence suggests that Alex wasn't just a bystander caught in the storm, but a key player in a sequence of events that the public is only beginning to understand. Who were these 'people present,' and what was the true objective of the plan discussed in those messages? This revelation has split the 2026 public discourse in half: Was Alex a victim of a setup, or was he an architect of the very chaos that led to his end? As forensic experts dive deeper into his digital footprint, the '10-word final call' and the 'folded item' in his jacket are now being viewed through a chilling new lens. Is this the definitive proof of a conspiracy, or is the official narrative being manipulated to silence a hero? The "shockwaves" are real, and the truth is becoming more elusive by the second.
The full breakdown of the 'Leaked Phone Logs' and the secret list of contacts Alex was messaging are currently causing a total media meltdown. You need to see the timeline of these messages before the court issues a gag order on the evidence.
A Google search (archived here) for the terms "pretti phone messages" returned no credible news reports about police finding encrypted messages on Pretti's phone. The top search result was another Viet Spam Facebook post (archived here) that also falsely claimed police found secret messages on Pretti's phone. The second post is hosted on a Facebook page titled Vì Yêu Mà Đến, which is Vietnamese. It means "Here for Love" in English.
Both of these posts are on Facebook fan pages managed from Vietnam, according to Meta's transparency data (archived here).
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of Facebook)
The first post includes a link to an article (archived here) headlined:
SHOCK: According to investigative sources, police uncovered a series of messages on Alex Jeffrey Pretti's phone indicating he had contacted people present on the day of the chaos to discuss a plan -- a detail that is now sending shockwaves through the public............
The website (archived here) hosting the article is home to hundreds of similar false stories about celebrities, especially British royalty, that are promoted on Facebook fan pages managed from Vietnam.
The Vietnam connection is significant, since fact-checkers, including Lead Stories, have identified a major source of AI-generated false stories coming from a single operation based in that Southeast Asian country. You can see recent reporting and fact checks mentioning that country here. This is part of a pattern of Viet Spam stories about Pretti, who was fatally shot by federal agents on a Minneapolis street on January 24, 2026.
