If you are a parent of teens who frequent gaming or social media sites and haven’t heard of the “764 Network,” it is time to start paying attention.
ABC News reports that the FBI is warning that a disturbing trend is emerging where a loosely organized network of violent predators is targeting teens through popular online platforms and then directing them toward escalating sexual and violent behavior. Those behaviors include creating graphic pornography, harming family pets, cutting themselves, or even committing suicide. In some cases, the behavior is documented in photos and videos and used as a cudgel to extort victims.
The online predators belong to a network known as “764” and coerce victims to send photos or videos of “shocking content” that is then shared with 764 followers and, in some cases, is used for extortion purposes. In some cases, predators host so-called “watch parties” for others to watch them torment victims online, the FBI said.
“We see a lot of bad things, but this is one of the most disturbing things we’re seeing,” said FBI Assistant Director David Scott, head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, which is leading the agency’s investigation into 764.
Scott told ABC that over 250 active investigations involving all 55 FBI field offices are handling a 764-related case.
Victims in the scheme are as young as nine, and authorities believe there could be thousands of victims worldwide.
Vernon, Connecticut, is a small rural community about 10 miles northeast of Hartford, the state capital. It is also where a victim of 764 lives. That victim, a teenage girl and former honor roll student, was arrested by Vernon police in connection with conspiring with an overseas 764 member to direct bomb threats in the town. When police obtained a search warrant for her electronic devices, they discovered pornographic photos of her, photos depicting self-mutilation, and photos of her paying homage to 764, ABC News reported.
Speaking to ABC News on condition of anonymity, the girl’s mother called the situation “scary and frightening.”
“It was very difficult to process, because we didn’t raise her to engage in that kind of activity,” she said.
Scott said one of the main priorities of 764 and similar networks is to “sow chaos” and “bring down society.” That has led the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division and the Department of Justice’s National Security Division to probe 764 and related groups as a potential form of domestic terrorism, even developing a new term to describe the most radical actors: “nihilistic violent extremists.”
“The more gore, the more violence…that raises their stature within the groups,” Scott told ABC. “So, it’s sort of a badge of honor within some of these groups to actually do the most harm to victims.”
ABC reviewed cases nationwide over the past several years and found authorities have arrested at least 15 people on child pornography or weapons-related charges and accused them of being associated with 764.
In one case, a 24-year-old Arkansas man, Jairo Tinajero, schemed to murder a 14-year-old girl who started protesting against his demands. When he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and child pornography charges, he said he thought the murder would increase his stature within the network. He will be sentenced in August.
Another man, 19-year-old Jack Rocker of Tampa, Florida, had in his possession a collection of over 8,300 videos and images which the Department of Justice defined as “some of the most horrific, evil content available on the Internet.” Rocker pleaded guilty in January to possessing child sexual abuse material and received seven years in prison.
Rocker’s collection was well organized and placed in folders with titles such as “764” and “kkk-racist,” ABC reported. Another folder was titled “trophies,” and contained photos of victims who carved his online monikers into their bodies, a ritual known as “fan signing.” In another folder titled “ISIS,” which contained beheading videos.
764 network followers share extremely violent content with their victims and glorify past mass casualty incidents such as the 1999 Columbine shooting, or introduce victims to extreme ideologies such as neo-Nazism or Satanism, authorities said.
“They want to desensitize these young people so that nothing really disturbs them anymore,” Scott told ABC.
Last month, a 20-year-old North Carolina man, Prasan Nepal, was arrested by authorities for operating an online club touting 764, extorting young victims, and producing horrific, disturbing content. He has not yet been arraigned, ABC said.
In charging documents, the DOJ said Nepal launched 764 with its Texas-based founder over four years ago. While the charging documents don’t identify his co-conspirator, he has been identified as Bradley Cadenhead, who is serving an 80-year prison sentence in Texas after pleading guilty to numerous child pornography-related charges in 2023.
Court documents show that Cadenhead launched 764 on the social platform Discord and called it 764 because he lived in Stephenville, Texas, where the ZIP code begins with “764.”
Since that launch, 764 has morphed into a global movement, with a number of offshoots and subgroups that rebrand themselves and change their names to keep social media companies and law enforcement off their trail, ABC said. The original 764 group was an offshoot of other extremist and gore-focused groups online.
“Think of this less as a group, and think of it more as an ideology,” Vernon police detective Tommy Van Tasel said of 764 and similar networks. “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.”
In the Vernon incident, the victim was indoctrinated by an overseas actor. She met him on the online gaming platform Roblox, which led to regular online communications, including on Discord, which primarily caters to gamers.
The man convinced her that he was her boyfriend, and he persuaded her to send sexual photos of herself, which is what 764 stalkers threaten to share widely if the victims don’t accede to their demands. Police said she produced 764-related content, including a photo of a naked Barbie doll with “764” on its forehead; pictures of her cutting herself; and a note written in her blood, calling her “boyfirend” “a god.”
“They felt like they owned her,” the victim’s mother said. Fearing additional extortion, she began participating in the same type of activity she had been through herself, Van Tasel said.
Meanwhile, Scott said it’s common to “have victims who then become subjects” by perpetrating acts “on behalf of the individual who victimized them.”
The Vernon victim’s family said she was trained to hack into Roblox accounts and lock them down, which allowed her to make demands of account owners if they wanted their accounts restored. She also allegedly directed a series of threats that shook Vernon-area schools for three months late in 2023 and early in 2024.
“I have placed two explosives in front of Rockville High School, and if they fail to detonate, I’m going to walk into there and I’m just going to shoot every kid I see,” a male with a British accent told Vernon police during a phone call in January 2024.
The police investigation led to the girl’s arrest for helping to facilitate those threats. She was referred to juvenile court due to her age.
The victim did try to resist some of the demands, however, as a result, her home endured numerous incidents of “swatting,” an activity where false reports of violence are used to induce SWAT teams to respond to a location to intimidate targets there.
“One time…they had surrounded our whole house,” the victim’s mother said. “And then that kept going on and on.”
Swatting is a common tactic employed by 764 and similar networks if they don’t get compliance, Van Tasel said. He added that the man responsible for the girl’s ordeal remains under investigation by authorities.
Van Tasel and Scott warned parents to watch what their children access on applications and online gaming platforms, a recommendation agreed upon by a spokesperson for Roblox.
In a statement to ABC News, the spokesperson said parents should “engage in open conversations about online safety,” particularly because 764 is “known for using a variety of online platforms” to circumvent safety standards.
Meanwhile, a Discord spokesperson said 764 is “an industry-wide issue” and added that “the horrific actions of 764 have no place on Discord or in society.” Both spokespeople said their companies are “committed” to providing a safe and secure online environment. Both said their companies use technology to remove harmful content, and their policies prohibit behaviors that endanger children.
Discord told ABC that they proactively work with law enforcement and have assisted them in building cases against Nepal.
There are several warning signs for parents to look out for that might signal their teens are in trouble, including changes in activity or personality, as well as questionable injuries to family pets or evidence of self-harm.
“Just be on the lookout for any of those things that are alarming, and just have in the back of our mind that this may all be a result of what’s happening online,” Van Tasel said. He urged parents to call the police if they have any concerns.
Scott said warning signs might include a child wearing long-sleeved clothing on hot days, evidence of them possibly trying to cover up signs of self-harm.
The victim in the Vernon case is “back on track” after receiving help, her mother told ABC News, noting that her case is “almost resolved.”
“Back to having friends, back to attending activities,” her mom said. “Not quite back to where she was when it all began, but she’s getting there.”
