Nevada Travel Influencer Almost Got Recruited as a ‘Spy’: ‘It Could Make for the Plot of a Really Funny Movie’

Not many people could proudly say that they’ve been to all the countries in the world during their lifetimes. But Lexie Alford is a special case, as she is the youngest person to ever travel the world. Naturally, having immense talent gets anyone noticed—and it seems that the United States government realized that they could turn the young travel influencer into a “spy.”

“The US government asked me to be a spy,” Lexie alleged on her TikTok. She continued, “A couple of years ago, I was breaking a world record for the youngest person to travel to every country in the world.”

Lexie, in fact, managed to break the record. Outside of the financial component, being able to travel in all 177 countries at 21 years old is an impressive feat in itself. Not everyone’s cut out to explore the world—some would immediately complain if a gust of wind made their laundry fly all over their lawn. But being a traveler requires people to be highly adaptable and resilient. These are probably traits that strange recruiters were looking for when they met Lexie at the airport one day.

She said that she was returning from the Middle East to the United States. Then, she noticed that her boarding pass had four ‘S’s stamped on it. Lexie didn’t think much of the strange marking at the time and went to immigration.

She said that the immigration officer was “so nice,” which is an undeniably pleasant experience. Lexie recalled that the man from immigration started talking to her about her travels. Her passport is probably the most heavily stamped he’s ever seen in his life, after all.

Why was the immigration officer being so ‘nice’ to an influencer?

But then, much to Lexie’s dismay, she was brought into another room. For every normal traveler, being brought by immigration officers to a different room usually means an additional layer of screening. She thought, “Oh no, what’s happening now? I’ve never been in secondary questioning going into the US before.” Nevertheless, the officer didn’t stop being “nice” to Lexie.

It turns out, the immigration officer wasn’t being benevolent for no reason. Lexie recalls him saying, “We at the US government would love it if you hear anything or see anything, especially when you’re traveling in places like Syria or Yemen, that you could just let us know.”

The young travel influencer was obviously confused by the immigration officer’s statement. She was traveling to beat a record and explore, nothing more.

But then the man also said, “If you’re comfortable with it, I would love to get your contact information so that we can discuss this further.” Lexie just agreed to it and gave her phone number to the mysterious man out of curiosity.

Ultimately, Lexie no longer heard from the man. Law enforcement or any of the intelligence communities also didn’t try to contact her after the strange encounter. But Lexie commented, “Honestly, I think the idea of a travel influencer being any type of a spy for the government is just a terrible idea.”

Can celebrities even be spies?

Not all spies have to work in private—that’s why psy-ops exist. An influencer would make the perfect target to muddy the information pool. Besides, even some celebrities in the past have been confirmed to be spies. Who’s to say present-day influencers couldn’t be part of the CIA?

As one commenter of Lexie asked, “How do we know you declined, though?” Maybe she is already part of the intelligence community and telling the story is a convoluted diversion tactic!

Jokes aside, Lexie seemed to be disappointed that she wasn’t contacted again. Perhaps they finally figured out that she’s a public figure and that it would be more of a liability. Nevertheless, she said of the experience, “I do feel like it could make for the plot of a really funny movie.”

(featured images: Mohammad Hadi, Lexi Alford, Mohamad Alhasan)

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