CHICAGO (WLS) — An extremist network is exploiting various online platforms to target vulnerable children both locally and globally, authorities warn.

In a joint investigation over the past six months, the I-Team and ABC News have uncovered the alarming growth of a group known as 764. Federal law enforcement agencies have begun labeling this activity as a form of modern-day terrorism.

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Javed Ali, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, explained to the I-Team that, “This network initially formed around the actions of a young man who was a teenager at the time. He launched this child sexual predator group on the Discord gaming platform in 2021.”

The 764 network has a global reach, operating not just in the United States but worldwide. It employs threats, blackmail, and manipulative tactics to groom children for acts of violence and suffering. Members coerce young individuals into committing shocking acts against themselves and others.

According to the FBI, the network’s rapid expansion is cause for concern, drawing comparisons to the operations of terrorist organizations.

“There are numerous similarities with other types of terrorist activities,” noted Javed Ali, reinforcing the gravity of the network’s operations.

Ali worked at the FBI and the National Security Council during the Trump administration.

“All this activity that is just so reprehensible. What’s to say that they wouldn’t go to another level and try to commit an act of terrorism, even though it may not be part of the origin, origins, or the initial ideals of what the 764 network tries to do,” said Ali.

But there are real challenges to dismantling a network that exists all over the world and primarily online.

“How do you, either from a parenting side, or from a national security perspective, how do you get your arms around it? Because it is so vast, and it’s so unregulated for the most part,” Ali told the I-Team.

When the I-Team and ABC News first reported on 764 in the spring, we revealed the FBI was conducting 250 investigations across the country tied to 764 and similar networks. In the six months since, the FBI has opened at least 100 additional investigations.

“The 764 network is a is a tier one priority. The FBI, and, perhaps other parts of the U.S. National Security apparatus, are ramping up the level of effort on this network and trying to figure out how many people are involved, what are they doing, what crimes potentially are they committing. And, can we prosecute them, if at all?” said Ali.

At least 28 people have been charged by the Justice Department in recent years with suspected ties to 764 or affiliated networks. Many have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

“We’re going after the new form of what I refer to as modern day terrorism in America, 764 crimes that involve harming our children by going after them online, causing self-mutilation, suicide, sexual abuse and steering them in the wrong direction,” Kash Patel, FBI Director, said before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tells the I-Team it’s on track to receive nearly 2,000 reports of abuse tied to these networks this year, much of it starting on popular online platforms.

“When we started seeing these reports concerning online enticement, but with extremely egregious sadistic elements, our team immediately knew this was an outside of the norm and began tracking this trend specifically,” said Fallon McNulty, executive director of CyberTipline at National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

McNulty says members of 764 start to groom their victims on seemingly innocuous platforms and blackmail them into producing sexually explicit material, harming themselves, or even other children.

“These offenders are coercing children to engage in horrific acts in attempt to gain notoriety online. So, in addition to enticing children to engage in sexually explicit conduct or produce sexually explicit material, we were also seeing offenders coerce children to be harming themselves, sometimes very severely, or abusing animals or other children that they have access to,” McNulty said.

“Offenders are first making contact with children through online gaming platforms or through social media and then trying to move children to more private or encrypted messaging spaces,” McNulty told the I-Team.

The more debased and violent the image or video a member is able to coerce a child to produce, the higher their standing in 764.

“They’re striking up communication or chat in gaming, they are trying to seek what that child’s interests are, what that child’s vulnerabilities are, their personal information, and then they’re using that against the child,” warned McNulty.

Prosecutors say Baron Martin ran a brutal branch of 764 out of Arizona, often targeting struggling children. Weeks ago, the Justice Department took the extraordinary step of charging the 21-year-old with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, referring to 764. He also faces 28 other federal offenses. Martin’s attorney says he will plead not guilty.

Carin Duryee, who recently left the Justice Department after 27 years, was on the prosecution team.

“It’s a big deal where he ended up. It’s also an attempt to show the public how serious this conduct can be and how damaging it can be,” said Duryee.

ABC News Anchor JuJu Chang talked to the parents of 13-year-old Jay Taylor, who died by suicide after authorities say a 764 member in Germany pushed him to take his own life.

“Just completely stunned. Jay’s not in my life anymore? I couldn’t grasp that,” said Leslie Tayor.

Now, three years later, a medical student in Germany has been charged there with Jay’s murder, and more than 200 counts of sexual abuse and violence of more than 30 victims. Authorities say he is nicknamed White Tiger. He has denied all charges.

“The fact that the perpetrators are having access directly to our kids’ mind versus their physical well-being is extremely scary,” said Colby Taylor.

Advocates trying to prevent child victimization say they have never seen anything like 764. They recommend monitoring children’s online activities, looking for sudden behavior or appearance changes, and educating the family and caregivers about these dangerous extremist groups.

Additional resources:
To report an incident to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children CyberTipline: https://report.cybertip.org/