'Sadistic' online gangs of teenage boys share online abuse material and blackmail young girls in performing sexual acts and self -harm, has warned the National Crime Agency.
Researchers have unveiled an alarming increase in groups that manipulate victims to abuse themselves and even brothers and sisters or pets when pursuing online fame or money by 'sextortion'.
The gangs are known as 'COM networks', in which perpetrators perform the crimes and also share extreme material such as child abuse or gore.
They are the “online equivalent of Urban Street Gangs,” said NCA director -general Graeme Biggar.
“Members of 'COM' networks are usually young men who are motivated by status, power, control, misogynia, sexual satisfaction or an obsession with extreme or violent material,” said the shocking report published by the agency yesterday.
Reports related to so-called 'com networks' rose six times in just two years, involving thousands of perpetrators and victims.
It is estimated that thousands of teenage boys are members of the networks, but the NCA is of the opinion that their crimes are considerably too little reported.
Teenagers are radicalized in the same way as the central character in the Netflix drama 'adolescence', the director -general of the agency, said James Babbage.
“For me, the Netflix show adolescence has great work to emphasize how much impact these online conversations, even simple emojis, have on the lives of young people and their self -respect,” he said.
“There is a moment in the show where that cent itself falls with a detective, a distracted parent, and for me that all adult parents and carers really have to take the time to talk to their children in our lives and make real contact with them about what they do online.”
Teens are radicalized online in the same way as the character of Jamie Miller in the Netflix series was adolescence, said the National Crime Agency
In the drama, Di Luke Bascombe was trained by his son about emojis and online culture while investigating the murder of a schoolgirl
The NCA said that members of the groups become insensitive to brutal violence.
A decade ago these crimes were committed by adults to children, but now young people were aimed at their own colleagues, said NCA operations director Rob Jones.
Last month, Richard Ehiemere, from Oost -London, was convicted of fraud and violations when he was 17 with regard to indecent images of children linked to a productive online damage group called CVLT.
CVLT members, many of whom were teenagers, focused on girls on social media and threatened to publish personal information about them online, unless they shared intimate images.
“In many cases, perpetrators are actively looking for people with well -known vulnerability, for example those who have joined online groups related to eating disorders, mental health and suicidal thoughts,” Mr. Babbage said.
'The use of care by perpetrators often means that victims do not see themselves as victims themselves. They do not trust adults, are concerned with law enforcement or otherwise report the abuse. It can be very difficult for victims to escape. '
The national strategic assessment of the agency, published yesterday (TUE), described the groups as platforms that “routinely share harmful content and extremist or misogynistic rhetoric.”
“Extreme and illegal images of violence, gore and sexual abuse of children are often shared with users, which means that participants are normalized and made more insensitive to increasingly extreme content and behavior,” the report states.
'' COM 'networks use extreme coercion to manipulate their victims, who are often children, to harm or abuse themselves, their brothers and sisters or pets, and to undertake them again by expeling or attributing other perpetrators. '
The report adds: “The rise of these types of online platforms ensures that some individuals, especially young people, almost certainly develop a dangerous tendency to extreme violence.”
Many users want to be known by generating the most damage to the victims or sharing the most extreme content, while others are pedophiles who want to exchange indecent material.
The National Crime Agency, often referred to as the FBI of Great Britain, emphasizes the dangers in its national strategic assessment
Graeme Biggar, NCA director -general, said: 'This is a hugely complex and deeply relevant phenomenon.
'Young people are attracted to these sadistic and violent online gangs where they work together on scale to inflict, or incite others to cause serious damage.
'These groups are not lurking on the dark web, they exist in the same online world and platforms that young people use every day. It is especially worrying to see the impact this has on young girls, who are often cared for to hurt themselves and, in some cases, even encouraged to try suicide. '
Platforms where COM networks have started are Telegram and Discord, both of which are encrypted messages apps.
Chief Executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, Andy Burrows, called the government and Regulator ofcom to take online action about extreme material.
