The law enforcement agency says it is investigating more than 350 subjects in connection to the group.
FBI officials, warning of a “sharp increase” in activity by the so-called 764 group and other nihilistic violent online networks targeting children, have issued a letter to parents to keep watch over their children.
The FBI’s Open Letter to Parents, Guardians, and Caregivers, dated Feb. 19, said it is now investigating more than 350 subjects around the United States linked to those networks, and that all 56 FBI field offices are involved in the investigation.
“While many of the victims are young females, any child can be at risk. The perpetrators themselves are often males under the age of 25 and come from all walks of life,” the letter said. “They often groom victims by first establishing a trusting or romantic relationship before eventually manipulating and coercing them into engaging in escalating [harmful] behavior designed to shame and isolate them.”
The FBI’s Boston office said in a separate news release on Thursday that victims are usually underage females between the ages of 10 and 17, adding that victims may suffer from depression, suicidal ideation, or eating disorders while lacking reliable friends or family members who offer support.
“They typically have unfettered access to the Internet, are disconnected, and believe they are communicating with someone their own age,” the law enforcement agency said.
In late November, FBI Director Kash Patel told The Epoch Times’ Jan Jekielek that the law enforcement bureau is working to root out the 764 network and that arrests in connection to the group are up around 500 percent from last year.
The group was started by then-15-year-old Bradley Cadenhead, of Texas, who was later sentenced to 80 years in prison for creating and distributing child sex abuse materials, according to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a human rights group. Cadenhead has said he helped start the group, named after his ZIP code prefix, with a friend he met while playing the game Minecraft.
The group says that nihilistic violent groups connected to 764 may lack an ideological motivation, while linking them to at least four school shooting incidents, five disrupted school shooting plots, and two stabbing sprees in Sweden.
