SA teen arrest highlights âdepraved extremist predatoryâ gang 764âs global spread from US

This story has significance for readers across Africa and beyond.

An online teen-headed predatory and extremist network known as 764 started in the United States (US) about six years ago and since then has morphed into a global threat â and it may have spread to South Africa.

The arrest of a 16-year-old in the Western Cape on Monday, 17 August 2026, points to this.

Further illustrating how 764 stretches across countries is a case rooted in Australia where Jay Taylor, 13, was allegedly pushed to take his own life, which he did, in 2022 by an individual (who connected online) accused of being linked to 764.

According to the BBC, a man based in Germany went on trial in that case earlier this year.

US authorities have previously issued warnings about 764, which is primarily based online and whose members are involved in criminality ranging from child sexual abuse and assault to animal killing and torture.

Since its inception about six years ago in Texas, it has changed names, moved across social media platforms and spawned offshoot groups.

Most of these reside under 764.

764 origin

Various media reports, supported by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) â information Daily Maverick has seen â indicate that a 15-year-old boy from Texas founded 764 in late 2020 or early 2021. He is now serving an 80-year prison term.

âDownfall of the current world orderâ

A US criminal complaint from last year in a 764 case contains a chilling description of it: âThe 764 networkâs accelerationist goals include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the United States Government.

âMembers of 764 work in concert with one another towards a common purpose of destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, including minors.â

In March this year, the FBI issued a warning on 764 and related groups, detailing how easily its members could access targets.

The FBIâs advice and red flags about 764 and its targets:

Monitor childrenâs online behaviour.

Be vigilant about posting personal photographs, videos and identifying information online, especially those of children, because criminals can exploit and manipulate the content.

Be careful of direct online messaging.

Parents should keep an eye out for sudden behavioural changes in their children â their sleeping and eating patterns and appearance.

The receipt of anonymous gifts, gaming currency and other virtual items may indicate something untoward.

âThese networks exist on publicly available online platforms, such as social media sites, gaming platforms, and mobile applications commonly used by young people,â the FBI warned.

âMany threat actors systematically target underage females, but anyone â juveniles, adults, males, and females â can be targeted. Victims are typically between the ages of 10 and 17 years old, but the FBI has seen some victims as young as 9 years old.â

Local arrest and child victims

This week, South African Police Service (SAPS) officers, acting on intelligence from the FBI, arrested the 16-year-old in the Western Cape Town of Malmesbury for alleged 764 ties.

An SAPS statement said: âThe intelligence indicated that a target, suspected of being linked [⦠to 764] was believed to be located in South Africa [â¦]

âA preliminary on-site analysis of the suspectâs electronic devices uncovered explicit images and videos depicting child sexual abuse and animal mutilation.â

The SAPS said several child victims had so far been identified.

Accompanying the police statement were two images that showed a desk with computer monitors, a keyboard and a cellphone.

According to the Western Capeâs National Prosecuting Authority, the teen appeared in the magistrateâs court in Malmesbury on Tuesday, the day after he was detained.

He faces 11 charges, of which seven are for sexual assault, including the sexual exploitation of children, and the intentional distribution of child abuse material.

The teen also faces animal cruelty charges and another relating to a message threatening people with property damage.

He was expected back in court on Thursday when a district surgeonâs assessment of him, needed for proceedings, may be complete.

âDegrading contentâ and âreal-world violenceâ

Last year, when US authorities arrested two suspected 764 leaders, Leonidas Varagiannis and Prasan Nepal, a related criminal complaint by FBI Special Agent Andrew Rust provided deeper insight into the network and its offshoot groups.

âMembers of 764, both individually and as a group, methodically targeted vulnerable populations, including minor girls with mental health challenges, and attempted to socially engineer them, gain their trust, and then groom them to share private information and intimate visual depictions of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct,â Rust explained.

âArmed with this private information and intimate images of their victims, members would then use this material to coerce victims into providing more extreme and degrading content, such as images of the victims cutting the names of 764 members into their bodies, setting themselves on fire, abusing their pets or siblings, and even suicide.â

This material would then be edited and compiled into what 764 called âLorebooksâ that would be shared across its channels.

Rust explained that 764 members âalso engaged in acts of real-world violenceâ.

This included destroying property, physical assaults including stabbings and attempted murder, and abusing animals.

UK case âTerror Weekâ

In the UK, Cameron Finnigan was jailed last year after his 2024 arrest for offences relating to 764, committed when he was 18 years old.

Sentencing remarks in his case, which Daily Maverick has seen, are rattling.

The document says: âIt is clear from all the evidence [â¦] that you were involved in a Satanic, Far-Right extremist group known as â764â. That group is associated with a broader entity or group known as the Order of the Nine Angles or âO9Aâ.

âThere is evidence that O9A is a decentralised esoteric militant accelerationist network of threat actors who believe that Western civilisationâs Judeo-Christian heritage corrupts modern society.â

According to the sentencing remarks in Finniganâs case, 764 had deemed a week in March 2024 as âTerror Weekâ or âTerror Seasonâ.

âYou were aware that an associate, âMorgueâ, was intent on murdering someone, and you believed his plan to be genuine,â the sentencing remarks said.

âYou encouraged âMorgueâ to dump the dead body of his victim and then âGo spray paint the fuck out of it.ââ DM

Reporting originally appeared via Daily Maverick. Read the full source for additional context.