Interesting Shares

Some snippets from the article:

Cadenhead then started a Discord server called “764,” after the first three digits of [his] zip code ... sentenced to 80 years in prison. Now 18 years old, he is currently incarcerated

“How-to” guides on sexually exploiting and extorting minors online were circulated in their channels.

Thomas-Gabriel Rüdiger, head of the Institute for Cyber Criminology at the Brandenburg Police University, assumes that most offenders feel safe online. "Particularly in a global context, the pressure by law enforcement on the internet can only be considered very low,” he says. This remains true, he says, “even if individual groups are repeatedly taken down.”

Eve’s mother recounted her daughter being drawn into the exploitation network through “gore” servers on Discord, where children would watch ultra-violent content. “What 764 would do is they would go in and drop videos in these groups and try to start pulling kids out of that to their server,” she says.

Victims who provided CSAM and self-harm videos were rewarded with attention and praise from the extortion group. In turn, the members who are able to coerce more material from their victims gain status within the group. "The more content they provide, the higher they are in their hierarchy,” says Anna, a young Western European woman who was groomed by 764.

Whenever she resisted his requests to produce “content,” Riley would threaten to send her prior images of self-harm to her parents.

To me the most insidious part of this is how it's organized and systematic. They're figuring out the most effective ways to manipulate and victimize people, teaching and gamifying it.