Written by Maritina Vezyrtzi (Political Scientist, International Conflict and Security Analyst, Member of ELISME)
Recently, the existence of a “group” of mainly young people who approach children and young people through electronic games and social networking applications has become very big news in America. This is the globally infamous “764 Cult”, in which, according to accusations, a young American citizen of Greek origin joined around December 2023 and throughout his participation, resided in Greece, specifically in Thessaloniki. He is considered one of the orchestrators of this circuit, as it is assumed that he was in our country with the aim of searching for “new victims”.
The 764 network has been characterized as a nihilistic group, focused on extremist violence, because it believes that nothing in the world is important and that no life has value.
The way to attract minors is mainly done online, using games such as Minecraft and Roblox and through applications such as Steam, Telegram, Instagram and TikTok.
According to the competent US authorities, the ringleader of this group was a 15-year-old boy, Bradley Caddenhead, in the state of Texas, who began attracting minors through the game Minecraft.
Group 764 was influenced by the offline Satanic network "Order of Nine Angles", which is a combination of Satanism, Neo-Nazism and Occultism.
The members of the 764 group are estimated at approximately 20 to 30 thousand, while the average age of their "targets" ranges from 9 to 17 years old.
What they want is to cause terror and panic, personal harm to their victims and bring destruction. Most members are teenagers, young people in their twenties, although there are also individuals in their 30s and 40s.
In addition, they identify children on online mental health forums, targeting those who are experiencing psychological difficulties, or those who appear vulnerable, distant from the rest, who, for example, may have been bullied.
They pose as their friends or even their partners in order to attract them. They even have “manuals” and “guides” of over 240 pages on how to approach them, which members share with each other.
It is something that, as it seems, also has a presence in our country, which is why it is necessary to investigate it further by the Greek police authorities and the competent cybercrime services.
Personally, I cannot imagine how something so important, concerning our children, the future of society and our country, has not come to light and has not been discussed, at least, on television channels, while abroad the case has generated intense publicity and is being discussed extensively at an international level.
There are over 250 active investigations by the FBI, which has identified the group as a Domestic Terrorist Organization, while informative presentations have been made at Europol conferences.
It is, therefore, essential to be particularly careful with children and their online presence. Continuous information, supervision and open communication are needed so that they can recognize risks, protect themselves from malicious users and feel safe when using the internet.
Some sources for your further personal research:
- https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/media/1398431/dl
- https://www.investing.com/news/world-news/leaders-of-global-online-extortion-and-exploitation-group-764-charged-4014377
photo B_A, https://pixabay.com
