Chicago FBI warns violent online network, known as 764, is targeting minors

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The group 764 methodically coerces and extorts minors to produce heinous materials online, according to the FBI. This includes live-streaming acts of self-harm, animal cruelty, sexually explicit acts and even suicide.

Chicago FBI officials told the I-Team the group's activity has increased sharply.

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The 764 network operates not only in the United States, but all over the world, using threats, blackmail and sadistic manipulation to force children to perform depraved acts of violence against themselves and others.

Ryan Maxwell, assistant special agent in charge of the Chicago FBI Field Office, told the I-Team, "764 is a violent online network of individuals who use criminal actions for their goal of destroying society, creating chaos and exploiting their victims."

He said members of the organization befriend children online through social media and multiplayer gaming platforms, and then they strike.

"Relationships, which might appear to be innocuous at first, and then progressing to a place where they're asking for individuals to comply with their demands, production of photos and beginning a cycle of control and fear," Maxwell said.

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

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"Their typical victims are between the ages of 9 and 17 years old, sometimes folks who have a mental health issue and sometimes children who are part of a marginalized segment of the community," Maxwell said.

He said because of its original connections to racial and ethnically motivated ideologies, the FBI is utilizing counterterrorism agents to thwart members in the worldwide network.

"I think it shows how serious that we're taking this and that we're dedicating resources, and now we want to stop the proliferation of this group. We want to infiltrate. We want to take them down at some point," Maxwell said.

The agency recently helped secure convictions against 764 members in Michigan and Kentucky.

"Both individuals received heavy prison sentences. And we are using a number of federal crimes to charge these perpetrators: cyberstalking, solicitation of violence, enticement, animal cruelty and creation and distribution of sex, child sex abuse material," Maxwell told the I-Team.

While the FBI was unable to delve into any specific Chicago-area cases, Maxwell said it's vital to have conversations about who your children are talking to online.

"Kids need to have cyber awareness. They need to know that when they are on these sites and platforms that individuals may be seeking to take advantage of them and to exploit them," Maxwell said.

The FBI said those conversations between parents and children are vitally important. They are asking the public to report any instances of abuse like this.