NCMEC Reports Violent Extremist Groups Using Sextortion to Groom Kids for Violence

NCMEC reported that its CyberTipline received more than 1,300 reports in 2024 with a nexus to violent online groups, representing a substantial increase from the previous two years when tracking of this new crime began. The groups, including the 764 network whose founder Bradley Cadenhead received an 80-year sentence in 2023, use sextortion as an entry tactic to control and degrade children, coercing victims not for financial gain but to cause pain, self-harm and violence, with most victims being girls aged 14 to 17 and as young as under 10.