The RCMP has issued an alert about an emergent threat from violent online groups targeting children and teens.
The groups make up an online network known as “The Com.”
The network is known to have extreme ideological views and are victimizing children through desensitizing and radicalizing them to violence, RCMP said.
Tactics used by these groups can include sextortion, self harm, animal torture and radicalization to violence, according to police, adding they’re using online platforms such as Discord, Telegram, Roblox, Minecraft, Twitch and Steam to reach their victims, who are typically between the age of eight and 17.
Predators use a grooming process that can include establishing trust or romantic relationships or using power to coerce victims to engage in serious violence, self-harm or gore activities.
The activities are increasingly shameful or incriminating, which isolates the child and makes them more vulnerable to further exploitation.
Some of the acts reported to police include:
- photographing themselves or siblings in sexually explicit poses;
- commiting sexual acts or sexually exploiting others;
- harming or killing animals, including family pets;
- harming others or self-harming;
- attempting or dying by suicide; and
- committing other acts of violence.
Victims have been pressured to:
- cut names or online handles into their own skin or into that of pets or animals;
- place notes or signs beside dead animals or wounds; and
- write names or handles in blood, often on the floor, a note, skin or wall.
As the victims provide photos, the predators share them within The Com network to increase shaming of the victims and provide content for the group.
The predators gain notoriety within the group by sharing the photos, as these instances of victimization are seen as a claim to fame.
Victims who refuse to share photos with predators are often threatened with:
- having their explicit or violent content shared with friends or family;
- having their personal information shared on the internet (doxing);
- making a false report to a law enforcement agency so emergency services are dispatched to the victim’s home or school (swatting);
- threatening to report the victim’s activities to police or their school; and
- directly threatening the security and wellbeing of the victim or their family.
Police say the following signs are indicators that your child could be a target of The Com:
- They are on mobile apps like Discord, Telegram or other encrypted communications platforms for which you have no visibility as a parent.
- Family pets or other animals are being harmed or die suspiciously.
- You notice a family pet is uncharacteristically avoiding or fearful of your child or you.
- They are demonstrating an interest or affinity to extreme messaging online, including conspiracy theories, anti-government rhetoric, or sympathy/support toward extreme messaging or online propaganda.
- They are demonstrating a newfound and abrupt interest in questioning or rejecting moral
- constraints on their behaviour, together with an interest in Nazism, school shootings, serial killers, or occultism.
- Writing in blood or what appears to be blood.
- They have a new online “friend” or network they seem infatuated with and/or scared of.
- They are receiving anonymous gifts: items delivered to your home, currency, gaming currency or other virtual items.
- They are covering their skin in unusual ways
- They are going through more bandages, or showing evidence of cuts, carvings on their skin, stab wounds and more.
- They are more quiet than usual and uncharacteristically withdrawn.
- They are excessively moody and on edge.
- Their grades are dropping.
- They are spending more time on the internet, unsupervised or alone in their room.
- They are spending more money online or asking for money more often than usual.
- They are scrawling names and/or numbers in notebooks, diaries, loose papers.
Police say one of these indicators alone may not appear significant, but when considering them in clusters they could have more meaning and more reason for concern.
Parents who believe their children are being targeted should maintain open communication with them about healthy online relationships, monitor their online activities and familiarize themselves with the technology their child is using.
Do not judge, but approach the situation with support and understanding.
Mounties say when considering whether to report any suspicions to police, remember your report could be the missing piece that prevents life-altering consequences for another child or youth.
Additional resources for parents include:
