Kash Patel Reveals Terrifying Extremist Network “764” Is Pressuring Children Online to Hurt Themselves — FBI Moves In
I sat up straighter today when I read the latest from the FBI. Director Kash Patel has confirmed something chilling: a nihilistic violent extremist network called “764” is being investigated — and what they’ve done is haunting. It isn’t just rumor. Reports and arrests are happening. Lives are at risk. This is real.
The U.S. Department of Justice says two men, Leonidas Varagiannis (also known as “War”) and Prasan Nepal (“Trippy”), have been arrested for operating this global child exploitation enterprise tied to 764. The network reportedly pressures children online through closed forums and secret groups. Some of these children are as young as nine years old. They are manipulated, coerced, threatened. Some are pushed to mutilate themselves or take shocking actions.
Reading it felt like entering a nightmare. Parents, activists, even law enforcement seem drawn into this battle, but what hurts most is imagining the children. One moment feeling safe, the next dragged into something no one should ever imagine. And yet these things are happening because of people who find ways to exploit fear, vulnerability, isolation.
Director Patel says that under domestic and counterterrorism investigations, the FBI has uncovered that this group uses social media chats, video-games, online apps to find children, groom them, extort them, sometimes blackmail them. Children are asked to produce violent or explicit content, sometimes self-harm, sometimes worse. The FBI even stopped a plan where a conspirator in 764 wanted to harm or kill an adolescent girl. The arrests in Greece and North Carolina aim to dismantle part of this horrid network.
Some outlets report there are more than 250 open FBI investigations across the U.S. involving 764. Every FBI field office has at least one active case connected to it. Hearing that, I thought about how many parents must be wracked with fear, not knowing where their child is spending time online, who they talk to, what they see. And how the tools of modern life — phones, social apps, gaming — meant for connection become twisted into tools of evil by people without conscience.
Still, there is hope, because this network is coming under fire. The arrests are progress. The FBI is warning the public. Communities are being urged to watch for signs: sudden changes in behavior, secretive messaging, emotional distance. It’s heartbreaking that we must talk about these things, but ignoring them would be worse.
I keep thinking about the victims — children who deserve so much more: safety, love, guidance. And about how all of us have roles, somehow, even if small: paying attention, teaching children to speak out, ensuring protections online are stronger. If we don’t, shadows grow in those hidden chat rooms. If we do, we might save lives.
