The Rise of 764: How Parents and Educators Can Protect Youth from Dangerous Online Networks

How Online Criminals Exploit Vulnerable Youth

In recent years, the internet has witnessed the birth of a particularly terrifying network of online actors looking to destroy the social strata via graphic crimes. The group, 764, combines elements like sextortion, swatting, online blackmail, Satanism, and extremist ideology to facilitate the demolition of Western society. The organization belongs to a larger category of online hackers, extortionists, and perpetrators referred to as COMs, short for “The Community.”  764, whose name stems from the Texas area code of its founding member, includes a loose affiliation of online members who target youth on social media and other online platforms.

How does 764 use sextortion to exploit unsuspecting youths?

Posing as love interests, 764 trick youths into sharing intimate images or data, then threaten exposure unless demands are met

Ashamed boy

One kind of 764 attack involves soliciting compromising information from unwitting youth.  Sensitive information can include intimate images produced by a teenager, who believes they are interacting with a well-intended online love interest. Once one’s nude images or other personal data are shared, the 764 member reveals his true identity, wielding the sensitive information to elicit further compliance from the disoriented youth. For many readers, they will readily identify this digital blackmail as sextortion. 

From Innocent to Dangerous: How Sextortion Unfolds Online

Briefly, sextortion involves a perpetrator using a false online identity to collect compromising information from an unsuspecting youth. Once in possession of said material, the perpetrator threatens to disclose it to the youth’s social network if they fail to comply further. One can quickly see how an innocent image shared can deteriorate into a high-risk situation where the victim feels hopelessly torn between yielding to the attacker and having their reputation destroyed. Unfortunately, with little reprieve, many sextortion victims have turned to suicide, as profiled by various news media.

Nihilism, Accelerationism, and Destruction of Society

An interesting aspect of the organization is its end goal and internal practices. For instance, while 764 can be viewed as an extremist movement that exercises violence to achieve its objectives, members are not looking to replace modern society. Instead, the group falls under the larger accelerationist umbrella, which aims to facilitate, or accelerate the fall of society.  Whereas some groups aim for civilization’s destruction in order to erect a replacement in their image, 764’s mission, in and of itself, is to decimate the social fabric.  Consequently, the group is sometimes described as nihilistic, as evidenced by a group offshoot named NLM, or No Lives Matter.

Aside from the group’s unique goal of no society, its internal practices and hierarchy cast it apart from other online extremists and perpetrators. For instance, once someone has fallen victim to a 764 member, they are then ordered to produce graphic content, sometimes referred to as “hurtcore.”  Hurtcore can involve a victim performing self-mutilation, animal cruelty, grotesque acts, or crimes at the perpetrator’s direction. The victim’s abuses are then chronicled in a log, often named a lorebook. Such documents include the various exploits suffered by the victim and communications between the pair. It is the lorebook consisting of sexual, violent, and self-injurious content that the perpetrator threatens to release if the victim resists. However, lorebooks also serve as a perverted means of clout chasing wherein one’s more graphic crimes elevate his status within the organization. Within this harmful dynamic, offenders’ harmful behavior is reinforced as they receive praise from like-minded individuals.   

False Alarms to Create Chaos and Harm

Those victims who resist can also find themselves the subject of “swatting attacks.”  In short, swatting refers to another type of cybercrime wherein a perpetrator eports a false mass attack at the victim’s home, triggering a response from first responders. The term’s name (swatting) derives from the emergency service units, formerly known as special weapons and tactics (SWAT), who respond to such false alarms. At a minimum, such attacks drain limited emergency resources and cause emotional distress for all those involved. In more tragic scenarios, unsuspecting residents have been shot and killed by responding officers, who mistakenly believe a mass attack is occurring.

FBI Struggles with 764’s Criminal Acts and Secretive Rules

764’s graphic crimes, which include forcing victims to carve the names of perpetrators into their skin, have resulted in the organization quickly coming to the attention of law enforcement. For instance, in recent months, the FBI has begun briefing communities and other agencies on the significant harm the group poses. However, group members enforce strict rules on inclusion and participation, often demanding recruits showcase their criminal acts to facilitate group entry, creating investigative challenges for law enforcement.

Also causing alarm is the group’s connections to extremist ideology involving white supremacy. For instance, investigations have revealed the group’s affiliation with a satanic Neo Nazi organization named the Order of 9 Angels (O9A). Briefly, the O9A stands at the nexus of the occult and white supremacy, tracing its history back to the 1970s. The group’s activity wavered in the subsequent decades before finding significant support online. Similar to 764, the organization looks to facilitate to the inevitable fall of civilization to bring about the “Imperium,” which involves the prosperous return of Nazism. O9A actors have been convicted of various crimes, including sexual and terrorist offenses.

Teaching Teens Safe Online Habits to Avoid Exploitation

While law enforcement works to combat 764 actors, parents, caregivers, and educators can reinforce good internet safety practices among youth to avert negative consequences. Simple but effective steps, like avoiding online correspondence with strangers, can help keep youth from interacting with online bad actors. Additionally, role-playing sensitive conversations with youth can foster a safe environment where teenagers feel comfortable disclosing when they err on the internet.

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