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CT officials warn parents of 764 and other extremist groups targeting kids.In 2024, Vernon police announced the arrest of a 17-year-old whom they said was involved in a conspiracy to make bomb and swatting threats in several communities.According to police, the teen was also tied to a violent online group called 764.It was an organization few outside of law enforcement appeared to know much about.Advertisement Article continues below this ad The group's exploits read like plumbing the darkest corners of the internet.Adherents to 764 and other organizations like it that the FBI calls "Nihilistic Violent Extremists" are alleged to have drawn into their orbit children who they can coerce into producing sexually explicit material, harming themselves or family pets, and in some cases taking their own lives.The FBI's Boston division said that in the area it covers, members of the groups "have utilized doxing and swatting as an intimidation tactic to coerce victims into performing increasingly degrading and violent acts." Evan Allard, the director of the Connecticut Intelligence Center, or CTIC, said that in the last two years since the arrest in Vernon, a lot more has been publicized on 764.Recently, the Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab or PERIL, an American University think-tank introduced a database tracking incidents involving 764 and other Nihilistic Violent Extremists.Advertisement Article continues below this ad Want more Norwalk Hour?Allard is taking part in talks about the threat posed by the organizations this week.One in Avon on Monday was addressed to parents, another at Fairfield University on Tuesday was aimed at police and emergency managers.Allard said he also planned to speak with hospitals in New Britain on Friday.What should parents know?"It is very important for parents to just understand what their kids are doing online," Allard said in a phone interview Tuesday.He said parents should have conversations with their children early to give them the skills to recognize when they're being manipulated in the age of artificial intelligence.Advertisement Article continues below this ad Allard said if parents suspect their child is involved, they should file a police report.Other avenues for anonymous reporting also exist, such as filing a tip with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center; filing a tip with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; or filing a suspicious activity report with CTIC."Really I just think at the end of the day the best offense we have against this is a good defense," Allard said."We need to promote digital literacy amongst our kids, especially now given how AI and algorithms can potentially lead a vulnerable child down a road that would lead to NVE-type activities." Allard said the networks are experimenting with AI like any other organization.He noted as one example how AI translation services are making it easier for international communities to connect.He also noted that AI tool exist to create deep fake pornographic images of someone with only their profile picture.What is 764?764's name derives from the ZIP code for Stephenville, Texas, where the group's teenaged founder was living.The group's roots go back even further to the founding of a Nazi-Satanist organization known as the Order of Nine Angles in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.Advertisement Article continues below this ad That group, also known as ONA, "had principles that mirrored some of what we can see today in modern day nihilistic violent extremism," Allard said.The 764 group emerged in 2021 as people were spending more time online because of the pandemic, Allard said.The teenaged founder of 764 was eventually convicted and sentenced to 80 years in prison."It's more of a brand now than it is a central organization," Allard said.Because the group is online, "anybody can throw 764 into a screen name on Discord and claim that they're starting their own group," he added, referring to a messaging platform popular with gamers.What are 764's tactics?Allard said the group primarily targets girls who are 10 to 17 years old, though male victims have also been targeted.Advertisement Article continues below this ad "They look for minors that have eating disorders or substance abuse issues that have suffered physical or mental abuse," as well as sexual abuse victims and teens with depressive disorder, Allard said.Members of the group then mirror the victim's trauma — "they pretend to be someone they aren't" — as a form of social engineering to make the victim feel like they have a sense of community, he said.Allard noted the one through line for the victims and perpetrators is "unfettered access" to the internet.One of the major tools used by the group is swatting, the practice of making a fake report of a crime that results in a heavily-armed police response.Allard said swatting is both something victims will be coerced into doing if the group obtains compromising material on the victim, and used as a tool to intimidate victims if they aren't cooperating.Advertisement Article continues below this ad Perpetrators tied to groups may have victims cut screen names into their skin, known as "fansigning," officials have said.Allard said other hallmarks of the groups include writing something related to a group in blood, and animal abuse."The whole sliding continuum of escalation is designed around getting a victim" to take their own life on live stream, Allard said.Allard said the groups were something that emerged post-pandemic, and that everyone is now catching up.Advertisement Article continues below this ad "It is so nascent that I think that the world is like waking up to it," he said.