FBI: Online group "764" preying on children Dan Krauth has more on the network preying on kids at home. Dan Krauth has more on the network preying on kids at home. Dan Krauth has more on the network preying on kids at home.
Dan Krauth has more on the network preying on kids at home. NEW YORK (WABC) — The FBI has an urgent warning for parents. A terrifying criminal network of people is targeting children online in new and disturbing ways.
They're calling it the number one digital threat against kids. The FBI is tracking a sharp increase in activity from a loose network of people called "764". It's called "764" because it's a portion of the zip code in Texas where the disturbing acts first started.
Federal agents say predators are finding children online on social media apps and gaming sites. They're befriending them and then extorting them. The ages of the targeted children range from 9 to 17.
Agents say the kids are often coerced into performing violent and sexual acts and recording them. The pictures and videos are often used to blackmail the child. "These cases are horrible to even talk about," said David Scott, of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division.
The FBI has more than 250 open investigations tied to the criminal network reaching every division of the country. "They're really just trying to own these individuals and to have power over them," Scott said. "So they'll try to blackmail them, basically, through the child sexual abuse material."
Police in Vernon, Connecticut, recently investigated a case involving a 17-year-old victim. "They'll build bonds with these people and encourage them to take these sexually explicit videos and share them, and they'll use that to extort them," said Det. Thomas Van Tasel of the Vernon, CT Police Department.
Federal authorities say the network was also tied to the actions of a man who was arrested in Queens in 2023. His name's Angel Almeida. Investigators say Almeida posted pictures with a flag representing a satanist group known for embracing neo-Nazism.
Court documents state he posted what appeared to be a "child, gagged and bound," along with pictures "depicting violence against animals." Federal investigators said he also enticed a minor to engage in sex acts for the purpose of producing videos. Almeida is in custody right now at a federal medical facility where he waits to stand trial.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Eyewitness News went to the Regional Computer Forensic Lab in Trenton, New Jersey, to see where many similar investigations are started. It's where forensic examiners download the data from a suspect's or a victim's cell phone or computer.
"Right now, I would say the digital threat is the biggest threat to children," said Detective Sergeant Christopher Camm. They summarize the data in a report to make it easier for detectives to analyze pictures, messages, and social media accounts. "Your child is living an entire second life on that phone," said Det.
Camm. "The biggest problem we see is that a lot of these children do not know they're in trouble until it's too late," he said. After working on a thousand devices a year in the lab, Detective Camm said he doesn't like what he sees.
"People use their cell phone as their primary device nowadays, and because of that, their entire lives are on their phone, and sometimes there's really bad stuff on there that is going to haunt you for a long time," said Det. Camm. He says the biggest challenge to investigators right now is the size of the data they need to analyze.
Newer phones take longer to analyze. "What could look very safe and benign when their child's using their phone may not be so; they need to know what the child's doing and have open communication with that child so they can examine what is on the phone," said Det. Camm.
