Online 'satanists' stalking vulnerable young victims in new blackmail threat

A playbook for blackmailing vulnerable young people into sharing sexually explicit images is being circulated among "satanist" extremists online, analysts have warned.

- John Simpson Home Affairs Editor

Members of the sadistic collective known as the 764 network have been sharing a 101-page “sexploitation handbook” as part of their efforts to target young victims online.

The guide, seen by The Observer, includes a section on how to select and target victims - headed with the quote: “Get them young, and they're yours forever.”

Members of 764 - named after a Texas post code where the founder lived - use social media and gaming platforms to seek out victims with eating disorders and self-harm problems, as well as young members of isolated religious groups, according to Barrett Gay, an analyst for the Institute of Strategic Dialogue who researches rightwing extremism.