By India McCarty
The FBI has opened 250 investigations in an effort to find and destroy a network of violent online predators.
“We see a lot of bad things, but this is one of the most disturbing things we’re seeing,” FBI Assistant Director David Scott, the head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, told ABC News. This division is now leading many of the 250 investigations linked to 764.
764 is a network of predators who befriend teenagers online, then coerce them into escalating sexual and violent behavior. This can include making graphic pornography, harming family pets or themselves and even committing suicide.
“The more gore, the more violence…that raises their stature within the groups,” Scott explained. “So it’s sort of a badge of honor within some of these groups to actually do the most harm to victims…They want to desensitize these young people so that nothing really disturbs them anymore.”
“Think of this less as a group, and think of it more as an ideology,” Vernon police detective Tommy Van Tasel added. “It doesn’t matter what they’re called. There are a lot of actors out there…encouraging this type of behavior. So it’s everywhere. It’s in every community.”
Kathryn Rifenbark, the director of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline, told The Guardian, “It is really important that law enforcement is looking into the individuals that are perpetrating this abuse and seeing if they can have any successful investigations.”
Over the last few years, state and federal authorities have arrested at least 15 people on child pornography or weapons-related charges and accused them in court of being associated with 764, per ABC News.
Related: This Chat App Your Child Probably Uses Exposes Them to Predators
Two alleged leaders of 764 were arrested earlier this year. Leonidas Varagiannis, 21, and Prasan Nepal, 20, are accused of ordering victims to self-harm, psychologically tormenting minors and instructing others on how to recruit new members.
“These defendants are accused of orchestrating one of the most heinous online child exploitation enterprises we have ever encountered — a network built on terror, abuse and the deliberate targeting of children,” U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement about their arrest. “We will find those who exploit and abuse children, prosecute them, and dismantle every part of their operation.”
For parents who are worried that their children might encounter 764 online, Scott advised staying aware of what your kid is doing online, as well as having conversations about internet safety. He also shared that parents should be on the lookout for changes in their child’s behavior, questionable injuries to family pets and evidence of self-harm.
While the FBI and other government agencies work to take 764 down, it’s extremely important that parents stay aware of their child’s online activity.
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