The FBI is investigating hundreds of suspected members of a “nihilistic violent extremist” criminal network known for targeting children, the agency revealed Friday.
The department is investigating over 350 subjects tied to the “loosely organized” 764 network, which centers on sexually exploiting and abusing minors online, the agency shared in a statement to the Washington Examiner. Children targeted by the network and similar organizations are often blackmailed after sending predators sexually explicit media on social media platforms such as Instagram, resulting, at times, in the young people committing suicide.
This week, FBI Director Kash Patel described 764 as “one of the most serious issues in America,” in a statement on the expanded investigation, first reported by Fox News. He cited data indicating there has been a 500% increase in NVE arrests over the last year and a 20% increase in confirmed 764 arrests.
The government has faced different challenges cracking down on 764 and similarly decentralized groups, such as antifa, than it has in pinpointing known leaders of other criminal networks.
However, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino vowed Friday that the Trump administration will not allow “them to target our children.”
“We are hunting down the members of the 764 network with unprecedented arrest numbers, and a tireless focus on developing new investigative leads with our state, local, and global law enforcement partners,” he said in a post to X. “You cannot hide behind a keyboard.”
Bongino’s statement comes as “sexual sadists” in criminal sextortion networks such as 764 operating in the United States have led to the suicides of at least 38 teenage boys since 2021, cybercrimes investigator Paul Raffile said earlier this month.
“These criminals can add 100 kids [per] Instagram account and hope that 30 accept the friend request and hope that 10 actually engage with them. So it’s really a numbers game,” he told the New York Post.
764 is among the criminal networks that groom minors on social media to share sexual material, according to the Justice Department. The members often employ blackmail and other methods to force victims into complying with sadistic demands, including self-mutilation, online and in-person sexual acts, harm to animals, sexual exploitation of siblings and other acts of violence, suicide, and murder, the agency said in a November press release.
SIX-YEAR-OLD IMMIGRATION COURT ERROR HAUNTS KILMAR ABREGO GARCIA CASE
The FBI told the Washington Examiner that its latest investigation into over 350 subjects is tied to violent online networks commonly referred to as “764,” which includes “many offshoot networks and names.” All FBI field offices across the country are involved in the investigations and are providing training on countering these networks to personnel in all field offices to “identify and stop members of these networks,” the agency added
“We are working closely with our law enforcement partners both in the United States and overseas on what these criminal actors are doing and how we can identify and hold them legally accountable,” the statement continued.
