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The FBI and IC3 warned that nihilistic violent extremist networks and broader communities known as "The Com" are targeting children and other vulnerable people online through extortion, coercion, stalking, and abuse. Federal notices said the groups operate across social media, messaging apps, gaming platforms, and other online services, using threats, manipulation, and criminal tradecraft to pressure victims into self-harm, sexual exploitation, violence, and other dangerous acts in the United States and abroad.
Reporting and law-enforcement disclosures tied those networks to a wider cybercrime ecosystem that overlaps with groups linked to major intrusions, SIM swapping, credential theft, doxing, swatting, sextortion, and ransomware activity. CyberScoop reported federal investigators were probing 764 and related actors for using cybercriminal methods to facilitate violent crimes, while KrebsOnSecurity described connections among harm groups, Scattered Spider, LAPSUS$, and other actors associated with breaches and abuse campaigns. Separate FBI outreach on malware hidden in games hosted on Steam underscored how gaming platforms are also being used to reach and victimize users, especially younger targets.
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7 events from the most recent confirmed update back to the earliest known activity.
The Times of India reported on the FBI's Steam malware investigation, including the names of suspected games, an attack timeline, and protective guidance for gamers. This reflected broader public disclosure of technical and victim-facing details about the campaign.
The FBI Boston field office issued a warning that nihilistic violent extremists were targeting children and other vulnerable victims online. The statement expanded public-facing FBI messaging on the threat posed by these abuse and radicalization networks.
The FBI published a victim-information request tied to an investigation into malware distributed through games on Steam. The notice indicated an active federal effort to identify affected users and gather evidence about the campaign.
IC3 issued a second public warning specifically naming The Com and describing it as a growing threat to youth online through theft, extortion, and violence. This represented a more explicit federal characterization of the group's criminal and harmful activity.
The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a public service announcement warning that violent online networks were targeting vulnerable people and minors in the United States and abroad. The alert formalized federal warning activity around these abuse-focused online communities.
CyberScoop reported that U.S. federal authorities were investigating how 764 and related 'The Com' actors used cybercriminal tactics to facilitate violent crimes and abuse. The reporting marked a public escalation in official scrutiny of the nexus between cybercrime and extremist harm networks.
A Krebs on Security report described overlaps between financially motivated cybercrime groups such as Scattered Spider, LAPSUS$, UNC5537, ViLE, CVLT, Court, Leak Society, and 764 and broader online communities involved in coercion, sextortion, stalking, self-harm, and violence targeting minors. The report also noted growing law-enforcement concern and emerging prosecutorial interest in terrorism-related charges for some harm-group members.
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U.S. and European authorities are intensifying efforts against **The Com**, a sprawling, youth-driven ecosystem associated with cyber-enabled extortion, harassment, and offline violence. Europol-coordinated **Project Compass**, supported by 28 countries (including the Five Eyes), reported **30 arrests**, the full or partial identification of **179 perpetrators**, the safeguarding of **four victims**, and the identification of up to **62 victims**; officials described The Com as splintered into **Hacker Com**, **In Real Life Com**, and **Extortion Com**, with members using identity obfuscation and financial laundering to evade detection. Separate reporting highlighted the **764 network** as a decentralized online threat linked to the **grooming and coercion of minors** via trust-based manipulation across mainstream platforms, aligning with recent U.S. federal law-enforcement warnings about structured grooming “architectures” and targeting patterns. While 764 and The Com are not presented as the same organization, both references describe overlapping risk themes—online communities that deliberately target minors, blend digital coercion with real-world harm, and create downstream organizational risk through victimization, extortion, and exploitation that can spill into schools, families, and workplaces.
Jun 29, 2026
Europol said investigators from nine European countries flagged **4,340 URLs** for removal during Referral Action Days aimed at disrupting **The Com**, a decentralized online network tied to nihilistic violent extremism. The operation, organized by Europol’s **EU Internet Referral Unit** and Spain’s **CITCO**, targeted content spread across social media, messaging apps, and gaming platforms that promoted self-harm, suicide, child sexual abuse material, animal cruelty, violent attacks, and guides for grooming, murder, improvised explosives, doxing, and swatting. Authorities said The Com recruits and grooms young people online, often coercing minors through sextortion and pushing them toward both victimization and offending. Europol linked the action to its broader **Project COMPASS** effort, which had already produced arrests, identified suspects, and located victims, and noted that subgroups associated with the network include **764**. That subgroup drew earlier law-enforcement attention after U.S. prosecutors charged alleged leaders of 764 with operating a global child exploitation enterprise, underscoring how extremist online communities are overlapping with organized child abuse and coercion networks.
Jul 31, 2026
A Europol-coordinated law enforcement effort dubbed **Project Compass** has led to the arrest of **30 suspected members of “The Com,”** a decentralized, largely Western, youth-driven cybercrime ecosystem linked to hacking, sextortion, and related physical harm targeting minors and other vulnerable individuals. Europol said **28 countries** participated, and authorities have **fully or partially identified 179 perpetrators**, with the operation framed as an attempt to disrupt violent online extremism that can function like an “online cult community” recruiting offenders and victims. The reporting also notes law enforcement focus on **spinoff groups such as “764,”** which the U.S. Department of Justice has described as a **“nihilistic violent extremist group.”** Separately, U.S. officials described ongoing efforts against **Southeast Asian scam compounds** conducting *pig-butchering* and other cryptocurrency investment fraud and laundering at scale; while related to transnational cyber-enabled crime, that activity is a different enforcement and threat topic than Project Compass and “The Com.”
Jun 29, 2026