Police and the Department of Internal Affairs say a new breed of ultra-violent online manipulators has emerged in New Zealand.
A far-right cult, 764, linked to child exploitation, has members in New Zealand, says the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
Leaders Prasan Nepal and Leonidas Varagiannis have been arrested by the FBI for allegedly recruiting a network of exploiters and sharing violent, degrading content online.
The group targets vulnerable children, using tactics like grooming, extortion, and swatting, according to the FBI.
Warning: This story and video references suicide, sexual abuse, violence, graphic material and language that may be upsetting to some readers.
A far-right satanic cult group “built on terror and abuse” - whose leaders have been arrested by the FBI - has members in New Zealand, according to the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
The US leaders of an obscure and secretive online group known as 764 were allegedly operating “one of the most heinous online child exploitation enterprises” investigators have ever seen, according to US Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
The FBI alleges the group is an online network of sadists and paedophiles who obtain compromising material from children and use it to manipulate their victims into carrying out depraved acts of violence, including animal cruelty and self-harm.
We have seen New Zealanders involved with these groups
The FBI alleges a trademark violent act of 764 members is to encourage children to cut the names of 764 members into their bodies - symbols known as cut signs or blood signs.
Glenn Williams is the manager of digital violent extremism at the Department of Internal Affairs.
The DIA’s manager of digital violent extremism told the Herald it’s “highly likely” New Zealand children have been victimised by 764 sympathisers.
“The DIA and New Zealand Police have been concerned about these groups for some time. We have seen New Zealanders involved with these groups,” he said.
Williams said 764 is one of several nihilistic threat groups that are part of a wider network, known as The Com or The Community.
The DIA recently hosted two experts from Public Safety Canada and held nine workshops where the threats from nihilistic accelerationist groups were discussed.
Williams said members of such esoteric networks like 764 commit crime for online notoriety as opposed to seeking financial gain.
“Individuals who are involved in these sadistic online exploitation groups engage in a variety of violent and criminal activities both online and offline, including cybercrime, child grooming, encouragement of suicide and self-harm, extortion and sextortion, and violent extremist murder,” Williams told the Herald.
The FBI's affidavit alleged the 764 leaders provided a guide for supporters which gave them techniques for grooming victims. Photo / FBI
The FBI described the arrest of two 764 leaders as a “significant takedown”.
Prasan Nepal, who used the online pseudonym “Trippy” and Leonidas Varagiannis, known online as “War”, are alleged to have recruited a network of child exploiters and issued supporters with a “guide” which detailed “the disgusting online content they wanted”, FBI director Kash Patel said in a statement.
New recruits were taught grooming tactics and given content production “expectations” according to prosecutors.
The overriding aim of 764 was to “destroy civilised society” through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable young people, according to a statement from the US Justice Department.
Prasan Nepal, known as Trippy, was arrested in North Carolina on a charge of operating a child exploitation enterprise as a co-leader of 764. Photo / Guilford County Sheriff's Office.
“The 764 network’s accelerationist goals include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the U.S. Government,” the statement said.
The group actively targets vulnerable girls, including those with mental health issues with members referring to their “targets” as “e-girls”.
764 members engage in extensive harassment and intimidation tactics to silence their victims, including what’s known as swatting where a false or malicious call is made to emergency services prompting armed police to arrive at a victim’s home address.
The group has been influenced by other extremist networks, including the satanic neo-Nazi community, the Order of Nine Angles or 09A, which Williams said the DIA was also aware of.
“Methodically” targeting the vulnerable
Texas resident Bradley Cadenhead created 764 in 2021 when he was 15 and named it after his zip code. Photo / Erath County Jail Records
The FBI’s affidavit used to support the arrest of “Trippy” and “War” details the covert way in which the leaders operated and how degrading content would be compiled into so-called “Lorebooks” which were used as a form of currency.
Nepal, 20, was arrested in North Carolina, and Varagiannis, 21, was detained in Greece, according to the affidavit filed by the FBI special agent Andrew Rust.
The pair allegedly ran a hardcore invite-only subgroup of 764 called 764 Inferno.
“Access to 764 Inferno was reserved for the inner core of 764 members who had been invited by the leaders of 764, including defendants Nepal and Varagiannis,” Rust said.
764 members would compile sadistic material into edited Lorebooks which were then shared on encrypted channels for other members to view, he alleged.
Such material was held in online “vaults” which were managed by 764 members who agreed to preserve the material in the event a member was “fedded” or arrested by police.
Nepal and Varagiannis would invite people to join their 764 Inferno subgroup based on the quality of the content in their Lorebooks.
Messages obtained by the FBI feature 764 co-conspirators refer recruitment decisions to "War" who the FBI identified as Leonidas Varahiannis. Photo / FBI
The affidavit also reveals how the pair gave 764 members advice about how to groom and extort their victims.
“The defendants controlled membership in and access to the group. The defendants posted instructions to group members regarding methods they should employ to exploit vulnerable minor children,” agent Rush said in the affidavit.
In September last year, it’s alleged Nepal sought to legitimise his predatory behaviour.
“Extortion is a form of discipline to little girls who might not have a father at home. It’s a good thing,” Nepal wrote online according to the affidavit.
It’s alleged the 20-year-old went on to advise another member to blackmail their victim until “she just obeys you”.
The affidavit also alleges Varagiannis joked when another member obtained an image of a UK-based minor performing a grotesque sex act.
“I’m weak. I’m literally rolling rn,” the affidavit claims Varagiannis said when he saw the image.
The affidavit went on to claim both defendants advised members how to groom girls so they would be forced into creating “blood content”.
764 was created in 2021 by then 15-year-old Texas resident Bradley Cadenhead, who named the group after his hometown’s zip code.
Bullied by his classmates, Cadenhead found refuge online where he adopted the username Felix and bragged about his ability to coerce young people into violent acts.
Despite his subsequent arrest and imprisonment on charges of possessing child sexual abuse images, Cadenhead is still widely revered as a God-like figure among 764 followers.
Williams told the Herald despite the arrest of Nepal and Varagiannis, it’s likely new leaders will take their place.
“The structure within the 764 network with distinct hierarchical cells will likely see other leaders emerge. For example, the Bradley Cadenhead arrest in2021 saw 764 disrupted for a period, but new leaders subsequently emerge," he said.
Michael Morrah is a senior investigative reporter/team leader at the Herald. He won the best coverage of a major news event at the 2024 Voyager NZ Media Awards and has twice been named reporter of the year. He has been a broadcast journalist for 20 years and joined the Herald‘s video team in July 2024.
