An Alberta teen was trapped inside a network that the RCMP says is ‘unlike anything’ its counterterrorism unit has ever seen. WARNING: This story contains references to suicide, sexual abuse, violence, graphic material and language that may be upsetting to some readers. Maria desperately banged on the door as she pleaded through tears for her 15-year-old daughter Trinity to come out. “Look what they’ve done to me,” Trinity said as she finally unlocked the door in their Red Deer, Alta., home, lifting her shirt to reveal the myriad of usernames and symbols, including a swastika, carved into her skin. “I can’t take this anymore.” Just moments before, Trinity was livestreaming her attempt to kill herself on a private Discord server while dozens of predators goaded her on. It was July 11, 2021, and the culmination of months of exploitation by members of a violent extremist group called 764 who prey on vulnerable minors and lure them into their dark and depraved online community. “We have tried to tell this story and nobody believes it. It’s too obscure, it’s too obscene,” said Trinity, who is now 19. For their safety, we are not using Trinity or Maria’s last names. The Fifth Estate has learned despite reporting her exploitation at the hands of 764 to the RCMP in 2021 and providing evidence, including phones and a laptop, no charges have been laid in Trinity’s case. (…) 764 deliberately targets vulnerable children by prowling on popular gaming sites like Minecraft and Roblox, where members lure them into private online chats on Discord and Telegram. Often, these spaces are disguised as safe places for minors with eating disorders or poor self-esteem. Experts say the grooming includes lavishing victims with attention and exposing them to violent content to desensitize them. Victims are then coerced into sending sexually explicit images and to self-harm, including carving their predator’s names into their skin as a sign of devotion. Members of 764 threaten to share the images with family and friends to get their victims to do even worse, like hurting their pets, harming others and even killing themselves, all in an effort to exert control for their own gratification. (…) “The most horrendous part about it is it is minors doing this to minors,” said Marc-André Argentino, a senior researcher at Public Safety Canada specializing in extremism movements. “We’re talking about 13-year-olds targeting 16-year-olds, 16-year-olds sextorting 11-year-olds, 12-year-olds.” In February 2024, police in Lethbridge, Alta., identified Canada’s first case involving a 764 member when a 14-year-old boy was charged with a series of offences, including making and distributing child pornography. Argentino said law enforcement have located cases in at least 23 countries, and he estimates there are likely both perpetrators and victims in every province in Canada. “There’s no activism,” said Argentino, who writes a blog that helps law enforcement understand what they’re up against. Despite drawing inspiration from satanic neo-Nazi movements, he said 764 and its related groups’ shared motivation is to destroy society. “They’re not even worried about the disappearance of the white race. This is actually an interracial community. They just want to be the most violent, the most misanthropic type of individual they can be. (…) Argentino’s research has found recent alliances between 764 and other online extremist groups like No Lives Matter (NLM) and Maniac Murder Cult (MKY or MKU). Both promote targeted attacks and mass killings and circulate so-called “kill guides” online. The Fifth Estate has found those new alliances are linked to a school shooting in Nashville this past January where a 16-year-old student was killed. Argentino said other attacks include several stabbings in Sweden last fall and the killing of an elderly woman in Romania in 2022. Police have also foiled deadly plots tied to the groups in the U.K. and the United States in recent months. In Italy, police arrested a member last month who they say was in the advanced stages of a plan to kill vulnerable people.
via cbc: This violent extremist network targets kids online