“Sadistic” online gangs involving teenage boys are committing horrific crimes, including child abuse and sharing extreme material, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned.
Reports of these so-called “com networks” – as labelled by the NCA because of the online communities they form part of – have increased six times in the UK between 2022 and 2024, involving thousands of users and victims.
The NCA says these networks are typically made up of young men driven by desires for "status, power, control, misogyny, sexual gratification, or an obsession with extreme or violent material".
Sejal Karia reports.
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