WASHINGTON — The highly effective Home Oversight Committee is investigating a sadistic, nihilistic terror cult referred to as “764” that preys on minors and coerces them into intercourse acts, self-harm, animal torture, and different vile actions.
Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Subcommittee on Federal and Authorities Reform Regulation Enforcement Chair Clay Higgins (R-La.) demanded Tuesday that the FBI give lawmakers a briefing on its efforts to undermine 764.
“Reporting signifies the FBI has opened greater than 250 investigations tied to the group, which preys on youngsters and youngsters on well-liked on-line platforms,” Commer and Higgins advised FBI Director Kash Patel in a letter obtained by The Put up.
“The disturbing techniques attributed to this community—grooming, manipulating, and blackmailing of minors—underscore a critical and repeatedly evolving risk to youngsters and households throughout america. These harms demand rigorous oversight.”
Comer and Higgins are significantly fascinated about studying in regards to the bureau’s “capabilities to trace and apprehend” 764 acolytes.
They requested an summary of the FBI’s efforts, challenges the bureau faces, what further sources it might want from Congress, and a breakdown of how the bureau deploys its sources to trace teams like 764, together with coordination with native authorities.
Comer and Higgins gave the FBI till Feb. 24 to answer their request.
The cyber predators usually goal women between the ages of 10 and 17 and sometimes begins by courting them in well-liked on-line platforms earlier than taking them “off-platform” into closed chatrooms.
From there, the sickos will sometimes start a stress marketing campaign to push their victims into disturbing actions comparable to attacking animals, hurting household, and self-harm.
That wicked conduct often will get filmed after which used as blackmail to coerce the victims into finishing up much more abhorrent acts.
“The originators of this and type of the drivers of this are nihilistic in worldview,” Division of Homeland Safety Cyber Crimes Middle deputy assistant director Mike Prado advised The Put up earlier this month.
“What makes this troublesome is that these circumstances are inclined to spiderweb,” he added. “A whole lot of instances, immediately’s victims or yesterday’s victims at the moment are immediately’s or tomorrow’s perpetrators.”
The community was based in 2021 by Bradley Probability Cadenhead, who dropped out of faculty after being a goal of bullying. He named the community after the primary three digits of the zip codes for his hometown of Stephenville, Texas — 76401 and 76402.
On-line, Cadenhead gave his victims guides on easy methods to kill themselves and pressured women as younger as 10 to ship him nudes. He and his followers usually shared gore and youngster porn.
Cadenhead pleaded responsible in 2023 to 9 counts of kid pornography possession and was sentenced to 80 years in Texas state jail.
The 764 is believed to have been impressed by different teams like CVLT, which additionally pressured youngsters into intercourse acts, and the neo-Nazi Order of 9 Angles.
In investigating 764, the feds additionally should navigate a bevy of offshoots, in keeping with Prado, who famous that on-line exploitation has risen for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic.
“The objective of those teams basically is to actually one-up or high [each other],” he defined. “These teams acquire on-line credibility amongst themselves for the elevated stage of depravity that they will inflict or trigger to their victims.”
