The RCMP National Security Program and the National Child Exploitation Crime Centre are working together to protect youth online.
They're warning of violent online groups that have ties to known Ideologically Motivated Extremist (IMVE) entities and they are targeting youth online with harmful intentions.
These groups will try to get youth to record or live-stream acts of self-harm, suicide, animal torture, and/or produce sexual abuse material, which will then get circulated online and used to control and extort young victims.
In numerous cases, these perpetrators are also minors, and victims may end up being coerced into victimizing others.
According to a media release from the RCMP, key motivators for members of these extremist entities are to spread their ideology, gain notoriety, collect violent content online, and have their status elevated within their group.
The RCMP say that these groups operate on platforms that are available to the public, which include gaming platforms, social media sites, and mobile apps that are commonly used by younger people, such as Roblox, Discord, Minecraft, Twitch, and more.
Usually, these types of offences begin with a direct message through a gaming platform and move to a private chatroom or other virtual platform, where the conversations turn either violent or sexualized in nature, and they typically use platforms with video-enabled features.
One of the tactics these online groups use is sextortion, even if they are not using the harmful material they got from the youth as a form of sexual gratification or to extract money from the victim.
They instead use that material to continue manipulating and controlling their victims to create more violent and harmful content that aligns with their ideological objectives and radicalization.
One of these IMVE groups that are targeting children is known as the "764 network," but could also go by one of several different names, such as "the com."
In this group, they have numerous sub-groups known as CVLT, Court, Kaskar, Harm Nation, Leak Society, 7997, 8884, 2992, 6996, 555, Slit Town, 545, 404, NMK, 303, and H3ll, and they are committing serious crimes.
In the media release, the RCMP provided some indicators that a child may be the target of one of these IMVE groups that are creating child sexual abuse or violent content online.
Some of those indicators are:
- They are on the mobile application Discord, Telegram or other encrypted communications platforms and for which you have no visibility as a parent.
- They are receiving anonymous gifts, items delivered to your home, currency, gaming currency or other virtual items.
- They are demonstrating an interest or affinity to extreme messaging online, including conspiracy theories, anti-government rhetoric, or sympathy/support toward extreme messaging or online propaganda.
- They are demonstrating a newfound and abrupt interest in questioning or rejecting moral constraints on their behaviour, together with an interest in Nazism, school shootings, serial killers, or occultism.
- Family pets or other animals are being harmed or die suspiciously.
- You notice a family pet is uncharacteristically avoiding or fearful of your child or you.
- Writing in blood or what appears to be blood.
- They have a new online "friend" or network they seem infatuated with and/or scared of.
- They are covering their skin in unusual ways.
- They are going through more bandages, or showing evidence of cuts, carvings on their skin, stab wounds and more.
- They are more quiet than usual and uncharacteristically withdrawn.
- They are excessively moody and on edge.
- Their grades are dropping.
- They are spending more time on the internet, unsupervised or alone in their room.
- They are spending more money online or asking for money more often than usual.
- They are scrawling names and/or numbers in notebooks, diaries, loose papers.
The RCMP acknowledge that these indicators by themselves are necessarily significant, but if they are showing up in clusters or with the totality of circumstances, they could indicate something is going on and there may be a reason for concern.
The RCMP is asking parents, guardians, and any adult who is in a position of authority to keep an eye out for any indication that a child or youth is being targeted or exploited, and they are asking for that information to be reported to Cybertip.ca or to the local police.
If there is the belief that someone is in immediate danger, the police advise to call 9-1-1.
Any information given to the police about these groups can potentially prevent more harm.
To learn more about how to protect children online, click here.
