The National Crime Agency warns that in the past it was mostly adults who preyed on young victims online but there has recently been a shocking increase in ‘peer-to-peer’ abuse
“Sadistic” online gangs mostly led by teenage boys are carrying out child abuse and sharing extreme material, warns the National Crime Agency. Reports relating to “com networks” – internet gangs – rose six-fold from 2022 to 2024, involving thousands of users and victims.
The NCA warned that, as highlighted in Netflix hit Adolescence, parents need to be more aware of what kids are doing online. Its National Strategic Assessment said gangs share harmful content and extremist or misogynistic rhetoric. This material can desensitise people to increasingly extreme behaviour. The agency said: “Com networks use extreme coercion to manipulate their victims.”
It goes on that these “are often children, into harming or abusing themselves, their siblings or pets.” Members often want to gain notoriety by inflicting the most harm on victims or sharing the most vile content.
Others are paedophiles who sell material to other sex offenders. The NCA said it was typically adults preying on the young online in the past. But now it is “peer on peer” abuse after an alarming increase.
Some members have already been convicted of crimes. Children are being deceived by peers through unauthorised access to data or the exchange of revealing pictures, which lead to extortion attacks.
Young girls are often groomed into hurting themselves and in some cases, urged to attempt suicide. Director general of threats at the NCA James Babbage said the “competitive and collaborative” nature of online gaming is seen in dangerous forums.
NCA director general Graham Biggar said: “Young people are being drawn into these sadistic and violent online gangs where they are collaborating at scale to inflict, or incite others to commit, serious harm.”
Elsewhere, the NCA has also warned international criminal gangs are targeting Brits. It says the biggest threat comes from Chinese criminals, based both in China and the UK.
A report said: “Chinese national offenders are linked to cyber, drugs, fraud, illicit finance, modern slavery and human trafficking and organised immigration crime offending.” Iran and Russia also allow certain crimes carried out from within their jurisdictions against the UK, including ransomware groups, which are out of the reach of Western law enforcement.
Meanwhile, the NCA also said the use of ketamine in the UK has risen sharply, according to wastewater analysis. Figures from tests that cover 18% of the population of England showed that while heroin use dropped 11%.
While cocaine use was up 7% and ketamine consumption rose 85%. More than 2,000 adults needed medical help after taking ketamine in 2022/23.