Authorities have issued a grave warning regarding an extremist online terror group that targets children through sexual coercion and blackmail.
Cameron Finnigan, 19, of Horsham, West Sussex, has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of encouraging suicide, possessing a terrorism manual, and holding indecent images of a child. Finnigan interacted with a child online who told him she was having suicidal thoughts. He suggested she take her own life and livestream it. However, it does not appear the livestream took place. Police have also alleged that Finnigan was planning to kill a homeless man.
Whilst raiding his bedroom, authorities found a tapestry presenting a satanic beast, a bible covered in red scribbles, a knife, red spray paint cans, satanic flags, a hammer catapult and letters on his door reading ‘acid’. They also found an 11-page document discussing and encouraging individuals to carry out vehicle attacks and how to commit mass casualty offences.
Finnigan was a member of the extreme right-wing Satanist group named 764, which anti-terrorism police describe as posing “an immense threat,” the Old Bailey was told. Alarmingly, the group is not proscribed in the UK. It has, however, been designated a Tier 1 terrorist threat by the FBI in America.
At least four British members have recently been arrested in connection with the group.
Finnigan’s sentence includes an extended three-year licence period due to the severity of the offences. Officers initially apprehended him over concerns that he possessed firearms and other weapons, with authorities identifying him as a “threat to public safety.”
Police continue to monitor the group’s activities, emphasising the significant danger they pose to vulnerable children.
A closer look at 764
764 are a part of an online grooming network of more than a dozen different groups connected by shared interests in violence and abuse, known collectively as the “Com”.
The part of this network that Finnigan operated within is called 764. Its members are infamous for blackmailing—predominantly teenage girls and children— into performing sexual acts, engaging in self-harm, attacking their siblings or attempting suicide.
Groups within 764 are also linked to the extremist ideology of the white supremacist, neo-Nazi terror network, the Order of Nine Angles.
Members of 764 share and discuss evidence of violent acts on social media platforms such as Telegram and Discord. They are coerced, and in some instances mandated, to prove their readiness to engage in extreme acts of violence, including self-harm, animal killings, inciting suicide, and eventually murder. These acts are then shared through videos for the group’s gratification.
Ample evidence of predatory conduct had been uncovered and a persistent presence across apps including Telegram and Discord, Instagram, SoundCloud, and Roblox. These platforms are aware of these groups. However, they are yet to successfully eradicate them. In fact, over 16,000 accounts still exist in the wider network. 764 members have been located in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Scandinavia and South America.
The abuse perpetrated by members of com has included coercing children into sexual abuse and subsequently, causing them to deeply lacerate their bodies to carve “cutsigns” of an abuser’s online alias into their skin. Victims have killed their pets, flushed their heads in toilets, and attempted or committed suicide. Court records from the United States and European nations reveal participants in this network have also been accused of robberies, in-person sexual abuse of minors, kidnapping, weapons violations, swatting, and murder.
After sexually abusing children, some members have gone on to sell the explicit CSAM content on the dark web.
The following interactions within the group were made on Telegram:
