Online gangs of ‘sadistic’ teen boys are sharing sick abuse materials and blackmailing women into performing intercourse acts and self-harm, warns Britain’s FBI

‘Sadistic’ online gangs of teenage boys are sharing sick abuse material online and blackmailing young girls into performing sex acts and self-harm, the National Crime Agency has warned.

Investigators have revealed an alarming surge in the groups which manipulate victims into abusing themselves and even siblings or pets in the pursuit of online notoriety or money through ‘sextortion.’

The gangs are known as ‘Com networks’, in which perpetrators carry out the crimes and also share extreme material like child abuse or gore.

They are the ‘online equivalent of urban street gangs’, NCA director general Graeme Biggar said.

‘Members of “Com” networks are usually young men who are motivated by status, power, control, misogyny, sexual gratification or an obsession with extreme or violent material,’ according to the a shocking report published by the agency yesterday.

Reports related to so-called ‘com networks’ increased six-fold in just two years, involving thousands of perpetrators and victims.

It is estimated that thousands of teenage boys are members of the networks, but the NCA believes their crimes are significantly under-reported.

Teenagers are radicalised in the same way as the central character in Netflix drama ‘Adolescence’, the agency’s director general of threats, James Babbage, said.

‘For me, the Netflix show Adolescence does a great job of highlighting just how much of an impact these online conversations, even simple emojis, have on young people’s lives and their self esteem,’ he said.

‘There is a moment in the show where that penny drops with a detective himself, a distracted parent, and for me, that really highlights that all adult parents and carers need to take time to speak with their children in our lives and really connect with them about what they’re doing online.’

Teenagers are being radicalised online in the same way that the character of Jamie Miller was in the Netflix series Adolescence, the National Crime Agency said

In the drama, DI Luke Bascombe is educated about emojis and online culture by his son as he investigates the murder of a schoolgirl

 The NCA said members of the groups become desensitised to brutal violence.

A decade ago, these crimes were committed by adults against children but now young people were targeting their own peers, NCA operations director Rob Jones said.

Last month, Richard Ehiemere, from east London, was convicted of fraud and offences committed when he was 17 relating to indecent images of children linked to a prolific online harms group named CVLT.

CVLT members, many of whom were teenagers, targeted girls on social media and threatened to publish personal information about them online unless they shared intimate images.

‘In many cases, offenders are actively seeking out those with a known vulnerability, for example, those who’ve joined online groups related to eating disorders, mental health and suicidal ideation,’ Mr Babbage said.

‘The use of grooming by offenders often means victims do not see themselves as victims themselves. They do not trust adults, engage with law enforcement or otherwise report the abuse. It can be really hard for victims to escape.’

The agency’s National Strategic Assessment, published yesterday (TUE) described the groups as platforms that ‘routinely share harmful content and extremist or misogynist rhetoric.’

‘Extreme and illicit imagery depicting violence, gore and child sexual abuse material is frequently shared amongst users, normalising and desensitising participants to increasingly extreme content and behaviours,’ the report states.

‘”Com” networks use extreme coercion to manipulate their victims, who are often children, into harming or abusing themselves, their siblings or pets, and re-victimising them by doxing or appropriation by other offenders.’

The report adds: ‘The emergence of these types of online platforms are almost certainly causing some individuals, especially younger people, to develop a dangerous propensity for extreme violence.’

Many users want to gain notoriety by inflicting the most harm on victims or sharing the most extreme content, while others are paedophiles looking to exchange indecent material.

The National Crime Agency, often referred to as Britain’s FBI, highlights the dangers in its National Strategic Assessment

Graeme Biggar, NCA director general, said: ‘This is a hugely complex and deeply concerning phenomenon.

‘Young people are being drawn into these sadistic and violent online gangs where they are collaborating at scale to inflict, or incite others to commit, serious harm.

‘These groups are not lurking on the dark web, they exist in the same online world and platforms young people use on a daily basis. It is especially concerning to see the impact this is having on young girls, who are often groomed into hurting themselves and, in some cases, even encouraged to attempt suicide.’

Platforms where Com networks have been started include Telegram and Discord, which are both encrypted messaging apps.

Chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, Andy Burrows, called on the Government and regulator Ofcom to take action over extreme material online.