Mounties warn of online exploitation network targeting children via gaming and social media platforms

The RCMP warns that efforts must be made to prevent more children from being influenced and blackmailed by extremist groups.

They say some ideologically motivated, extremist (IMVE) groups are known for trolling on social media, mobile apps and gaming platforms popular with young people.

These platforms include:

• The Roblox Game Creation System
• The messaging app Discord
• The building game Minecraft
• The video streaming platform Twitch
• The messaging app Telegram
• The game store and messaging app Steam

A particularly exploitative tactic is to encourage young people to record scandalous videos of themselves, and then blackmail them. The material in these videos can include self-harm, animal torture, or child sexual abuse.

According to the RCMP, the perpetrators are often minors themselves. Sometimes they are coerced using the same methods they use against other people. They may also want to spread ideology, gain some notoriety or gain some status within their group.

One group is known generally as the ‘764 Network’ or ‘the com’. Other subgroups have names such as ‘CVLT’, ‘Court’, ‘Kaskar’, ‘Harm Nation’, ‘Leak Society’, ‘7997’, ‘8884’, ‘2992’, ‘6996’, ‘555’, ‘Slit Town’, ‘545’, ‘404’, ‘NMK’, ‘303’ or ‘H3ll’.

There are several possible signs that your child is being targeted by an extremist group online:

• They are located on the mobile application Discord, Telegram or other encrypted communication platforms and you as a parent have no insight into them.
• They receive anonymous gifts, items delivered to their home, currency, game currency, or other virtual items.
• They show interest or affinity with extreme messages online, including conspiracy theories, anti-government rhetoric, or sympathy/support for extreme messages or online propaganda.
• They show a sudden, new interest in questioning or rejecting moral constraints on their behavior, along with an interest in Nazism, school shootings, serial killers, and the occult.
• Pets or other animals are being abused or dying in suspicious ways.
• You notice that a pet is unusually avoiding or afraid of your child or you.
• Writing with blood or what appears to be blood.
• They have a new online ‘friend’ or network that they seem to be in love with and/or afraid of.
• They cover their skin in unusual ways.
• They have more and more bandages and there are traces of cuts, wounds on their skin, stab wounds and more.
• They are quieter than normal and noticeably withdrawn.
• They are extremely moody and tense.
• Their grades are going down.
• They spend more time on the internet, unsupervised or alone in their room.
• They spend more money online or ask for it more often than normal.
• They scribble names and/or numbers in notebooks, diaries and loose papers.

The RCMP says they have heard from a number of Canadian victims and that there are likely more victims elsewhere in the country.

You can report child exploitation through Cybertip.ca or to your local police.

If you think someone is in immediate danger, call 112.