FBI officials say they are growing more and more by a loose network of violent predators who become friends with adolescents through popular online platforms and then force them to increase sexual and violent behavior, which pushes victims to create graphic pornography, damage to family pets, cut with sharp objects or even die by suicide.

Online predators, part of the network known as “764”, the victims of demand send photos and videos of everything, so the shocking content can be shared with 764 followers or used to extort the victims for more. According to the authorities, some of the predators even organize “observation parts” so that others tormented online victims.

“We see many bad things, but this is one of the most disturbing things we are seeing,” said FBI assistant David Scott, head of the FBI anti -terrorism division, which now leads many of the United States government investigations linked to 764.

The FBI has more than 250 of these research currently in progress, with each of its 55 field offices throughout the country that handle a case related to 764, Scott told ABC News in an exclusive interview.

He said that the FBI has seen some victims of up to nine years, and the federal authorities have indicated that there could be thousands of victims worldwide.

‘Violent Nihilists’ extremists

“[It’s] Very frightening and terrifying, “the mother of a Connecticut teenager updated 764 to ABC News.

“It was very difficult to process, because we did not raise it to participate in that type of activity,” said the mother, speaking with the condition that ABC News did not name her daughter.

Last year, in the classic city of New England, Vernon, Connecticut, the Local Police arrested the girl, a former honor student Roll, for conspiring with a devotee of 764 abroad to direct the threats of bombs in their own community. When the police recorded their devices, they found pornographic photos of it, photos that represent self-mutilation and photos of their homage performance to 764.

As Scott described it, one of the main objectives of 764 and similar networks is “sowing chaos” and “demolishing society.”

That is why the FBI anti -terrorism division and the National Security Division of the Department of Justice are now looking at 764 and their ramifications as a potential form of domestic terrorism, even coin a new term to characterize the most atrocious actors: “Nihilist violent extremists.”

“The more gore, the more violence … that increases its stature within the groups,” Scott said. “Therefore, it is a kind of badge of honor within some of these groups to do the greatest damage to the victims.”

According to an ABC news review of cases throughout the country, in recent years, state and federal authorities arrested at least 15 people for child pornography or arms -related positions, and accused them in the court of being associated with 764.

In one of those federal cases, a 24 -year -old Arkansas man, Jairo Tinajero, drew to kill a 14 -year -old girl who began to resist his demands. When he declared himself guilty of the conspiracy and the child pornography charges three months ago, Tinajero said that he believed that the murder would increase his height within the 764 network. His sentence is scheduled for August.

In another federal case, Jack Rocker de Tampa, 19, accumulated a collection of more than 8,300 videos and images that the Department of Justice called “some of the most horrible evil content available on the Internet.” He declared himself guilty in January of having child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

While accumulating his collection, Rocker organized its digital content in folders with titles such as “764” and “Kkk-Racist”. Another folder, called “trophies”, contained photos of victims that carved their nicknames online in their bodies, a form of self-mutilation known as “fans firm”. He also had a folder entitled “ISIS”, referring to the international terrorist organization that produced Barbara decapitation videos.

The followers of the 764 network share all kinds of violent content with their victims, while some also glorify mass past attacks such as shooting at Columbine high school in 1999, or introduce victims of other extreme ideologies such as neo -Nazism or Satanism, according to the authorities.

“They want to desensitize these young people so that nothing really disturbs them,” Scott said.

Only two weeks ago, the Department of Justice announced the arrest of a 20 -year -old North Carolina man, Prasan Nepal, supposedly operating an elite online club dedicated to promoting 764, extorting young victims and producing horrible content. It has not yet been prosecuted.

When charging documents, the Department of Justice said that Nepal helped launch 764 with its founder based in Texas more than four years ago.

Although the collection documents do not identify the founder by name, the federal sources of application of the law identified ABC News as Bradley Cadenhead, who turns a sentence of 80 years in Prison in Texas after declaring himself guilty of several positions related to child pornography in 2023.

According to judicial documents, Cadenhead launched its new online community on the Discord social platform and called it “764” because at that time, when I was 15 years old, I lived in Stephenville, Texas, where the zip code begins with numbers 764.

‘It is everywhere’

Since the launch of the Initial Group 764, which obtained a couple of hundreds of discord followers, 764 has become a global movement, with a variety of ramifications and subgroups that often change brands and change their names to help social networking companies and the application of the law track them.

The original 764 was in itself a branch of extremist groups and centered on GORE online.

“Think about this less as a group, and think more about it as an ideology,” said Vernon Police detective Tommy Van Tasel, 764 and similar networks. “It doesn’t matter what they are called. There are many actors out there … encouraging this type of behavior. Then it is everywhere. It is in each community.”

In fact, the young Connecticut girl who will finally investigate was absorbed in 764 by a man abroad.

Reflecting what his family described as a typical game related to 764, the girl met him on the popular Roblox game platform, and then began to communicate more regularly online, even in Discord, which serves the players.

The man convinced her that he was her boyfriend, and she sent her sexual photos of herself, the types of images that 764 adherents threaten to share widely if the victims do not meet their growing demands.

According to the police, he had produced a variety of content related to 764, including a photo of a bare Barbie doll marked with “764” on the forehead; photos representing the cuts; And a note, written in his blood, calling her the alleged boyfriend “a God”.

“They felt they possessed it,” said the girl’s mother.

And, fearing even more extortion, the girl began to participate in some of the same threatening behaviors that had been supported, according to Van Tasel.

Scott said it is common to “have victims who later become subjects” when perpetrating acts “on behalf of the person who victimized them.”

According to her family, Connecticut’s girl was trained to hack Roblox accounts and block them, which allowed her to make demands of account owners if they wanted her accounts to return. And supposedly he helped direct a series of threats that shook the schools in the Vernon area for three months at the end of 2023 and early last year.

“I have placed two explosives in front of Rockville High School, and if they do not detonate, I will enter there and I will shoot all the children I see,” a man with British accent claimed during a call to the Vernon Police at the end of January 2024.

Those threats led Van Tasel to the girl whose mother spoke with ABC News. The girl was arrested for positions related to the conspiracy and referred to the youth court.

But even before his arrest, he had begun to resist some of the demands that were addressed to her. As a result, his family’s house was bombarded by incidents of the so -called “blows”, when false reports of crimes or violence try to induce SWAT teams to respond to a location in an effort to intimidate the objectives there.

“Once … they had surrounded our entire house,” said the girl’s mother. “And then that continued and continues.”

Scott said Swatting is a common tactic used by adherents of 764 and similar networks when they do not obtain compliance.

The man in the heart of the terrible experience of Connecticut’s girl is still under investigation by the authorities, according to Van Tasel.

‘Be attentive’

Van Tasel and Scott offered several tips to parents concerned with whether their children could be victims of 764. In particular, they said parents should see what their children are doing in applications and online games.

A Roblox spokesman agreed, saying in a statement to ABC News that parents must “establish open conversations about online safety”, especially because 764 is “known for using a variety of online platforms” to evade online safeguards.

Meanwhile, a Discord spokesman said that 764 is “a problem throughout the industry” and that “764 horrible actions do not take place in discord or society.”

Both spokesmen said that each of their companies is “committed” to provide a safe and safe online environment for users, and both indicate that each company uses technology to eliminate harmful content and, according to politics, prohibits the behavior that endangers children.

Discord added that “behind the scene” made “proactive disseminations of information to the police” and, “where possible”, helped the authorities build the case against Nepal, who allegedly helped launch 764.

Van Tasel and Scott said that parents should also seek changes in the activities or personality of their children, and observe questionable injuries for family pets or evidence of autolesions.

Scott said that if a child wears long sleeve clothes or is trying to cover his body on hot days, that could be a sign of self -harm.

“Just be aware of any of those things that are alarming, and only have at the bottom of your mind that all this can be the result of what is happening online,” said Van Tasel, urging parents to call the police if they have concerns.

As for Connecticut’s girl trapped in 764, her mother told ABC News that she cooperated with the authorities, the case against her is “almost resolved”, and now he is “back” after obtaining help.

“Having friends again, attending activities again,” said his mother. “He didn’t go back to where he was when it all started, but he’s getting there.”