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Winnipeg police are raising awareness of an escalating online nihilistic threat targeting children and youth.
Police issued a public safety advisory on Friday, warning young people are being lured into nihilistic violent extremist networks, including organized groups such as The Com Network (764, MKY, O9A, amongst others), and the True Crime Community (TCC).
“Predators once had to enter public spaces to seek out potential victims, but with evolving technology and social platforms, those behaviours have increasingly moved into online environments,” police said in a release.
“Today, offenders are actively infiltrating online platforms children use daily, including Roblox, Minecraft, Snapchat, Discord, Telegram, and Twitch, amongst others.”
Police say vulnerable children and youth are being deliberately targeted by posts about body image, loneliness, family conflict, bullying, or struggles with mental health and neurodiversity.
According to police, predators are exploiting these voluntary online disclosures by fabricating shared experiences to build false trust, then systematically introduce victims to increasingly violent and disturbing material, including child sexual abuse material, animal torture, and gore, as part of a deliberate desensitization process.
Predators then move victims to private spaces where grooming escalates to blackmail. Victims, including children as young as pre-teen, are coerced into committing harmful acts against themselves, their siblings, or their pets, sometimes while being forced to livestream the abuse. Extortion is not used for financial gain, but as a tool to extract more material and to ultimately push victims towards taking their own lives or the lives of others, say police.
Officers with the Winnipeg Police Service have begun delivering public awareness presentations on this topic to health care professionals, first responders, educators and school support staff, community agencies, and the general public to help increase awareness.
Police say parents and caregivers should watch for early warning signs, such as unexplained injuries or markings, sudden withdrawal from family or friends, secretive or distressed behaviour, exposure to disturbing content, and changes in mood, language or expressed worldview.
Watch Friday’s news conference:
