Warning: This story contains indications of suicide, sexual abuse, violence, graphic material and language that may disturb some readers.
Two men were arrested and accused of having led an international children’s serve with the name 764, which is aimed at underage in need of protection online and forced them to serve self-harm, makes sexual abuse of children for themselves and participating in violent actions-intends to take part in animal abuse and even suicide.
The 20 -year -old Prasan Nepal, who, according to the police, used the nickname “Trippy” in the 764 network, was arrested in North Carolina. Leonidas Varagiannis, a 21-year-old American citizen, known as “War”, was arrested in Greece, according to the police.
They allegedly headed a core subgroup called 764 Inferno, which operated with encrypted messaging platforms. The police say that the men have exploited at least eight minors, some at the age of 13.
“The information in the criminal complaint is disgusting,” said an online investigator named Becca, who pursues 764 and shares with the law enforcement authorities. We only use your first name for your safety.
CBCS The fifth property First One in Red Deer, Alta.called Trinity.
Trinity, whose identity CBC has agreed to protect for her security, first reported her allegations of exploitation from 764 members to RCMP in July 2021, but only heard about meeting her last year after the FBI had asked.
During the meeting with both law enforcement teams in May 2024, she made a list of 764 perpetrators available to the officials, which she exploited them through Discord and Telegram.
One of the names on this list was Trippy.
Neither she nor her mother wanted to comment on the arrests who said they try to move their ordeal past.
- Check out the full documentary “Captured: The online terror network”, from The fifth property To YouTube.
The fifth property also interviewed A Canadian father, whose 15-year-old daughter recently killed himself after he was exploited by other 764 members for at least two years.
The CBC does not name it to protect the identity of his daughter and for his own security. The father says he continues to be bothered by people who suspect that they are part of the network.
News about the arrests “gives me hope,” he said, adding that awareness, especially for parents and authorities, is critical. He says he missed the early sign of the exploitation of his daughter, including self -harm.
“This is the part I hate,” he said, “it happened right in front of me and I didn’t recognize it.”
Since his studies on 764, The fifth property spoke to another parent who says that her daughter of teenage has been victims of 764 members for two years. The parent also says that her daughter was in contact with Varagiannis online. CBC did not check this claim independently.
She also asked not to be named after her family’s privacy and security.
She hopes that the arrests will reduce access to the network to other victims.
“I also hope that this will send a warning to other or potential members that it is only a matter of time before their violent, predatory actions obtain them and they are forced to do justice to themselves.”
Investigation of the alleged top leaders
According to an affidavit and criminal complaint, which was not sealed for the District of Columbia on Wednesday before the United States district court on Wednesday, Nepal has been involved in 764 since its foundation in 2020. He appeared as a leader in August 2021 in August 2021 after the founder Bradley Cadenhead was arrested by the FBI.
Cadenhead created 764 at the age of 15 in 2020 and named the group after his area code in Stephenville, Texas. He serves an 80-year prison sentence because he guilty of owning pornography for children in 2023.
Varagiannis is said to have joined in December 2023 and has become a co-leader of 764 Inferno, which was only reserved for the internal core members of 764 and was only through invitation.
According to the police, Nepal and Varagiannis had strict rules for accession to 764. Potential members had to produce and share content that often harm sexual abuse material and images of victims themselves.
“These accused are accused of founding one of the most hideous online exploitation companies for children that we have ever met,” said the US Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a media publication on Wednesday.
Together with two others, Nepal and Varagiannis created a guide that gave potential members instructions for creating “content” by aiming to struggle with susceptible “e-girls” with mental illnesses.
After the affidavit, Nepal published step-by-step instructions in a chat on May 27, 2024 about how to maintain a victim.
“Go to Reddit … or Twitter,” he typed. “(Find a) self -harm and talk to a girl how it is a normal friend” and then seduce how much you love how she cuts. ”
This content included sexually exploitative materials and pictures of underage girls who were forced to cut the names of the group members into their skin.
According to reports, members and videos have reported in what they referred to as “Lorebooks”, which were viewed as a valuable currency within the group and are often used in order to gain awareness of 764 and to recruit more members.
Expert says that arrests are “of great importance”
Becca names the arrests as “of great importance” and says that the two are charged with the management of a global criminal network and not the indictment between individual child pornography how seriously the police are in the threat.
“You are working on hiring these boys for serious crimes and sentences.”
Becca says that Nepal’s arrest is particularly important because he was not only the self-proclaimed leader of 764, but also the most active member who created new telegram and discord channels in order to keep the group going when other accounts were prohibited from the platforms on which they operated.
764 has several offshoots, adds, but in the course of her research she found that a single predator can have dozens, even hundreds of victims.
“The influence is enormous because all children may be saved because a person is no longer on the Internet.”
According to the Becca, Nepals also caused panic in 764 chat rooms, as the authorities continue to act in the network. “These are really good news. We want you to run on the backfoot.”
The father who speech The fifth property About the victimization of his daughter by 764 it is said that he had associated the police more than a year before his daughter and he first felt released by the authorities.
He says he is planning to channel his grief after advocacy, and require social media platforms to do more to protect children online.
“I’m still shocked about it,” he said. “Our institutions slowly move against something that moves very quickly.”
In 764 the threat from escalating violence was
The fifth property spoke to several experts and law enforcement officers who say that the police are now more aware of the threat. They say 764 falls on its measure of violence and for the age of its members, of whom many themselves are minors.
In Canada, extremism states researchers that there are probably perpetrators and thousands of potential victims across the country.
The group is also an escalating threat worldwide, since it produces alliances with other violent online groups that promote mass murders and targeted attacks.
Further violent actions were associated with 764, including a shootout in Nashville at the beginning of this year, last autumn in Sweden and the murder of an older woman in Romania in 2022.
The police have also thwarted fatal acts in the UK and the USA in recent months. In Italy, the police arrested a member last month, of whom they say he was in the advanced phases of a plan to kill people in need of protection.
The RCMP Terrorism Control of the RCMP carries out 764 examinations in Canada and has issued A National public warning About the group last August. The police arrested at least two members of 764.
In response to The fifth property‘s request for comments on the latest arrests and the question of whether Canadian victims are connected to the accused. In an e -mail, the RCMP works in close cooperation with its international partners and does not comment on ongoing or potential investigations and investigations that were carried out by other countries.
It added: “The securing of Canadians the ideologically motivated violent extremism, as that of 764 committed, remains a priority for the RCMP.”
With regard to Nepal and Varagiannis, the indictment of operating a child has a minimum penalty of 20 years and a maximum of life in prison.
If you or someone you know, you will find here to find help:
If you or someone you know are exploited, you can report it to Canada’s national Tipline for the sexual exploitation of children in Canada:
If you believe that someone is in direct danger, please call 9-1-1.
