Child sextortion crisis: Sadistic cults coerce kids to self harm, kill pets and produce sex abuse material

An emerging international network of extreme online cults is using social media, messaging and gaming platforms to coerce Australian children into producing severe sexual and violent content in a terrifying new trend of “sadistic sextortion”.

The Australian Federal Police told The Nightly it was on high alert to this emerging crime type, in which extreme online communities are preying on vulnerable kids — as young as 12 years old — to inflict horrific abuse and trauma for “their deranged amusement”.

These depraved groups use different names and monikers to operate across various platforms. They have their own hierarchy, leaders and sometimes thousands of members from around the world. They are known to splinter off and use new names but their modus operandi remains the same.

Members of these abhorrent groups target vulnerable children and pressure them to self-produce and even livestream the explicit material to gain acceptance into their communities.

AFP intelligence has identified that sadistic sextortion offenders will initiate an online relationship with a victim via social media or messaging platforms before encouraging them to produce an image or video performing an explicit sexual or violent act.

This material instantly becomes leverage. The offender will then share the content with other members of the online group, who will attempt to blackmail the victim by threatening to share it with their family or friends unless the victim produces more videos and extreme content.

The abusers will relentlessly demand victims provide more content of increasingly degrading and violent acts including specific live sex acts, animal cruelty, serious self-harm and live-streamed suicide.

In some cases, perpetrators are the same age as the victims being targeted.

Recently the Western Australia Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team charged a 14-year-old boy after finding that he had been targeting victims around the world.

When investigators seized the offender’s phone they also found child abuse material and videos of animal cruelty.

Due to the offender’s age, he received a juvenile caution in relation to the matter.

AFP Commander of Human Exploitation Helen Schneider, who also runs the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, told The Nightly that unlike financial sextortion, these offenders were more motivated by clout than money.

“Intelligence received by the ACCCE suggested most offenders in extreme online groups were not motivated by money, but were instead focused on obtaining status or notoriety within the group,” she said.

“They are driven by exploiting vulnerable victims into producing abhorrent content for their deranged amusement.”

Commander Schneider said some victims in these groups do not see themselves as victims.

“They do not believe they are being coerced into performing these extremely horrific acts and therefore are unlikely to report it to the authorities,” she said.

“Without information or assistance from victims and members of the public, it can be extremely difficult for police to identify offenders and shutdown these dangerous groups.”

In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recently issued a public warning identifying eight violent online groups that target minors between the ages of eight and 17, seeking to harm them for its members’ “own entertainment or their own sense of fame”.

It described the actions of one group as ”domestic terrorism”.

“These groups use threats, blackmail and manipulation to control the victims into recording or live-streaming self-harm, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide; the footage is then circulated among members to extort victims further and exert control over them,” the FBI said last year.

“The violent online groups use many names – including 676, 764, CVLT, Court, Kaskar, Harm Nation, Leak Society, and H3ll – but continuously evolve and form subgroups under different monikers.

“They operate on publicly available platforms, such as social media sites or mobile applications.

“To gain access to a majority of these groups, prospective members are required to live-stream or upload videos depicting their minor victims harming animals or committing self-harm, suicide, murder, or other acts of violence.

“The key motivators of these groups are to gain notoriety and rise in status within their groups.”

The numerical group names sometimes feature the partial postcode of their creators who are often teenagers themselves.

These groups are reported to recruit victims from a wide range of sources including traditional social media platforms and popular gaming platforms like Roblox and Minecraft.

But where they really thrive is on fast-growing social platform Discord, which is hugely popular with teenagers, and fully-encrypted messaging app Telegram, where large and unruly chat groups can have thousands of members.

Perpetrators in these vile groups brag to each other about their abusive acts. They also exchange tips about how to groom and exploit vulnerable and “emotionally weak” victims.

A federal prosecutor in the US has called Discord and Telegram “vessels to desensitise vulnerable populations”.

An alarming trend in these extreme groups is that children are victimising other children.

In the US, Texas teenager Bradley Cadenhead founded one of the most prominent groups called 764. He was only 16 when he was arrested last year.

In research published on GNET, its authors say that the 764 group has a presence on YouTube, Instagram, Discord, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), Telegram, Twitch, TikTok, Steam, Mega and Roblox.

Law enforcement in the US has found that these groups target minors between the ages of eight and 17 years old, especially LGBTQ+ youth, racial minorities, and those who struggle with a variety of mental health issues, such as depression and suicidal ideation.

The FBI also said the groups use extortion and blackmail tactics, such as threatening to Swat or dox the minor victims, if they do not comply with the groups’ demands.

Swat, also referred to as Swatting, is making a prank call to police in an attempt to bring about the dispatch of armed police officers such as a SWAT team to a particular address.

Dox, also referred to as doxxing, is obtaining and publishing personally identifiable information on the internet, usually for malicious intent.

“The groups control their victims through extreme fear and many members have an end-goal of forcing the minors they extort into committing suicide on live-stream for their own entertainment or their own sense of fame,” the FBI said.

The FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit chief Abbigail Beccaccio told The Washington Post that thousands of children had been targeted by the online groups using these tactics.

“People are not understanding the severity, the speed at which their children can become victimised,” she said.

“These are offenders that have the ability to change your child’s life in a matter of minutes.”

Authorities and technology companies – where for moderators eradicating these groups is like playing whack-a-mole – are struggling to combat this sadistic form of social media terror.

The AFP is urging parents and guardians to look out for warning signs that young people are being groomed by these coercive groups online.

“If parents believe their child is engaging in harmful activity online, it’s important to have a conversation with them to understand the situation and provide appropriate support,” Commander Schneider said.

“Warning signs children may be engaging in harmful activity online may include increased screen-time on computers or phones, isolating themselves from friends and family or being secretive about who they are interacting with online.

“Whether a child is or has been a victim of sextortion online, please reassure them it’s not their fault and report it to the ACCCE.”

If you think you are a victim or know of someone who is a victim of sadistic sextortion:

• DO stop the chat
• DO take screenshots of the text and profile
• DO block the account and report it to the platform
• DO get support from a trusted friend or family member, or professional support services and seek mental health support if required. Kids Helpline offers free and confidential sessions with counsellors.
• DO report the crime to the ACCCE
• DON’T send more images or pay as this will lead to more demands
• DON’T respond to demands
• DON’T enter into further communication
• DON’T think you are alone

If you’re concerned about your or someone else’s safety, dial Triple Zero (000) or contact your local police station.

If you have information about people involved in child abuse, you are urged to contact the ACCCE at www.accce.gov.au/report.

If you know abuse is happening right now or a child is at risk, call police immediately on 000.