3 months ago
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WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A former Scots College student from Sydney and two teenagers, including one from Queensland, have been charged following Australian Federal Police investigations into nihilistic extremist groups which trade in depraved online material including imagery of children carving messages into their bodies.
New AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett used her first major speech on Wednesday to warn that loosely affiliated groups, which she described as “crimefluencers”, are operating in Australia and targeting young people.
Nihilistic extremist group 764 is preying on vulnerable teenagers.
“Perpetrators reach a status or new level in their group when they provide more content showing more extreme acts of depravity and sadism,” Barrett told the National Press Club. “And in some cases, perpetrators trade their victims with each other just like an online game.”
AFP officers had arrested three alleged members of the decentralised online crime networks and had identified 59 other suspects, the commissioner said.
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Sources with knowledge of the three arrests, who asked to remain anonymous so they could speak freely to this masthead, said members of the groups were posting in eating disorder support groups and gaming communities trying to find lonely, isolated and vulnerable teenagers.
They coerce the children into “engraving branding or names” into their stomachs, chests, legs and film the wounds.
Some messages, according to sources, include “[abuser’s name] owns me” written in flesh.
The photographs and videos are turned into horrific slideshows and set to rap music to create “hype-reels”, the sources said, which are designed to boast or showcase the level of control.
The investigation into these groups led to Ethan Ungerboeck, a 20-year-old former Scots College student, who was charged in October with one count of possessing child abuse material.
There is no suggestion Ungerboeck participated in the videos described by sources, but police will allege he was affiliated with one of the groups.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett at the National Press Club.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
In Queensland, a 19-year-old was charged with possessing child abuse material and, in an undisclosed location, a 17-year-old was charged.
The 17-year-old was diverted out of the courts under mental health legislation, sources said.
The groups first appeared in the United States, where they were dubbed “nihilist violent extremist” (NVE) groups by authorities.
One subgroup operating in Australia is “loosely affiliated” with a group called 764 in the US, sources said.
This week, the US Department of Justice announced the indictment of an alleged 764 member, 19-year-old Tony Christopher Long, on charges including animal crushing, sexual exploitation of a minor and cyberstalking.
“His conduct reflects the depravity of 764,” US Attorney-General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
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“These networks seek to terrorise and destabilise our communities by preying on the most vulnerable, and the Justice Department will stop at nothing to dismantle this network and bring offenders to justice.”
The charges follow the April arrest of two men, aged 20 and 21, who were accused of leading a 764 subgroup that encouraged children to engrave symbols into their bodies.
The pair had also used encrypted vaults of child sexual abuse material and gory content as a form of currency within the group, according to documents supporting the criminal complaint.
If you or anyone you know needs help, call Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; Lifeline 131 114; Beyond Blue 1300 224 636.
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