Gangs of teen boys target thousands of girls online

Warning: This article contains distressing content

The National Crime Agency (NCA) says it is investigating about 200 cases involving violent online gangs, mostly teenage boys targeting young girls.

The groups, known collectively as "com", use mainstream social media platforms to manipulate, blackmail and coerce girls into harming and abusing themselves.

In the most recent case, a 16-year-old boy linked to a sadistic and satanic "com" group known as 764 admitted to encouraging or assisting self-harm, as well as making indecent images of children.

He was given an 18-month rehabilitation order at Southampton Youth Court in April, restricting his internet access and banning him from using his devices after 22:00.

The boy - who cannot be named for legal reasons - began offending when he was 14 and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said it was "impossible to tell the true number of his victims".

However, images found on his devices showed he had targeted at least 50 to 100 children.

Several other British teenagers have also been arrested in connection with the group's activities.

Gemma, a detective constable, was the investigating officer. The BBC is not using her surname because these groups frequently target those who investigate them.

She told the BBC: "In terms of self-harm, it is the highest level of harm I've ever seen in a case since joining this department.

"We were looking at GBH-style injuries to children. The harm they were causing themselves was shocking."

From his bedroom, the teenager communicated online with children as far afield as North America, urging them to hurt themselves.

"This is happening on open platforms, gaming forums and social media sites that people use day to day for innocent reasons," Gemma said.

She added: "Unfortunately, they are being infiltrated by members of these groups targeting vulnerable people."

In this case, the teenager hacked into children's social media and gaming accounts and made certain "requests" in return for them regaining control.

"It is terrifying to think what could have happened to children around the world had we not uncovered what he was doing and the harm he was encouraging," the detective said.

In previous cases, vulnerable girls have been groomed into providing images before being blackmailed into sending increasingly extreme content.

The NCA said referrals from tech companies relating to child sexual abuse rose to 92,000 in 2025, with the weekly rate increasing further this year to about 2,000.

Rob Richardson, deputy threat lead for online child sexual abuse at the NCA, said the perpetrators were children who often struggled to form relationships in the real world

"These 'com' groups can be exciting because, for the first time in their lives, they feel a sense of belonging," he said.

"But they are highly competitive environments, and that competition motivates them to create increasingly harmful content and identify as many victims as they can."

Referring to a previous case, he said that when officers spoke to the parents of both the perpetrator and the victim, they struggled to believe what was happening.

"They just couldn't believe that their child, because they were in their bedroom, could be possibly be getting into any kind of trouble," he said.

"Similarly for the female victim, she's in her bedroom, she's not on the streets where it's dangerous, she's safe at home"

The NCA said 65 children had been safeguarded as a result of the Joint Task Force formed in October.

Richardson said having open, non-judgemental conversations with children was key, but added that parents should not worry about being more direct.

"Dare I say sometimes it's about being intrusive. Bearing in mind most parents pay the bills for their children's mobile phones, so you've got every right to challenge the way they use it."

Last year, the FBI released an unprecedented warning about 764, saying it "uses threats, blackmail, and manipulation to control the victims into recording or live-streaming self-harm, sexually explicit acts, and/or suicide".

Arrests relating to 764 have been made for child abuse, kidnapping and murder in at least eight countries, including the UK.

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