Leaders of 764, global child sextortion group, arrested and charged | CyberScoop<\/title> <link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/764-leaders-arrested-charged-child-sextortion\/\"> <meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\"> <meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\"> <meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Leaders of 764, global child sextortion group, arrested and charged\"> <meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Justice Department accuses two men of running a \u201cnetwork of nihilistic violent extremists\u201d who engaged in and facilitated the grooming, manipulation and extortion of minors.\"> <meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/764-leaders-arrested-charged-child-sextortion\/\"> <meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CyberScoop\"> <meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cyberscoop\/\"> <meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-01T18:14:12+00:00\"> <meta 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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"stickybar\" class=\"stickybar stickybar--event js-stickybar\">\n<div class=\"stickybar__details\" readability=\"4.9180327868852\">\n<div class=\"stickybar__info js-sticky-bar-content\" readability=\"32\">\n<p>Voting is open for the 2025 CyberScoop 50 awards!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a class=\"stickybar__link button button-tertiary\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/cyberscoop50\/\">Click here!<\/a> <\/div>\n<p> <button class=\"stickybar__close js-stickybar-close\" aria-controls=\"stickybar\"> <svg class=\"icon icon--close\" width=\"21\" height=\"22\" viewBox=\"0 0 21 22\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"m.822.518-.805.805L9.695 11 .017 20.678l.805.805 9.678-9.678 9.677 9.678.806-.805L11.305 11l9.678-9.677-.806-.805-9.677 9.677L.822.518Z\" fill=\"currentColor\" \/><\/svg> <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Close<\/span> <\/button> <\/section>\n<article class=\"single-article content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__container js-single-article-content\">\n<header class=\"single-article__header \" readability=\"26.110378912685\">\n<div class=\"single-article__header-content\" readability=\"35.318181818182\">\n<ul class=\"single-article__eyebrow\">\n<li class=\"single-article__category\"> <a class=\"single-article__category-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/764-leaders-arrested-charged-child-sextortion\/\"> <span>Cybercrime<\/span> <\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> The Justice Department accuses two men of running a \u201cnetwork of nihilistic violent extremists\u201d who engaged in and facilitated the grooming, manipulation and extortion of minors. <\/p>\n<p>  <br \/>\n<audio id=\"audio-player\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-tts-cdn.api.scpnewsgrp.com\/cyberscoop\/84379\/english.openai.mp3\"><\/audio> <\/p>\n<div readability=\"11\">\n<div>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>  <\/p>\n<p>0:00<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>  <\/p>\n<p> <span id=\"tts-tooltip\">Learn more.<\/span> <span> This feature uses an automated voice, which may result in occasional errors in pronunciation, tone, or sentiment. <\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>  <\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__cover-wrap\">\n<figure class=\"single-article__cover\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1\" class=\"single-article__cover-image wp-post-image\" alt decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=600,400 600w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=252,168 252w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=506,337 506w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=1013,675 1013w, https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-2.jpg?resize=1265,843 1265w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1013px) 100vw, 1013px\"><figcaption> Traffic streaks past the Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters building late in the evening on May 18, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by J. David Ake\/Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"single-article__content\">\n<div class=\"single-article__content-inner has-drop-cap\"> <html readability=\"52.920918367347\"><body readability=\"108.52407261247\"><\/p>\n<p>Two alleged leaders of the <a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/the-com-764-cybercrime-violent-crime-fbi-intellignce-report\/\">child sextortion group 764<\/a> were arrested and charged for directing and distributing child sexual abuse material, the Department of Justice said Thursday. Leonidas Varagiannis, 21, and Prasan Nepal, 20, face charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison. <\/p>\n<p>Varagiannis, also known as \u201cWar,\u201d and Nepal, also known as \u201cTrippy,\u201d are accused of running a core subgroup of 764, known as \u201c764 Inferno,\u201d that facilitated the grooming, manipulation and extortion of minors. <\/p>\n<p>Varagiannis, a U.S. citizen who joined 764 in late 2023, according to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/media\/1398426\/dl?inline\">affidavit unsealed<\/a> in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, was arrested in Greece on Tuesday. Nepal, who has been involved with 764 since the group\u2019s inception in late 2020, was arrested in North Carolina on April 22, officials said. <\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department describes 764 as a \u201cnetwork of nihilistic violent extremists who engage in criminal conduct in the United States and abroad, seeking to destroy civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The group\u2019s goals include \u201csocial unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the U.S. government,\u201d officials said. Members of 764 are affiliated with \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/tag\/the-com\/\">The Com<\/a>,\u201d a global collective of loosely associated groups that commit financially motivated, sexual and violent crimes, according to threat researchers.<\/p>\n<p>Nepal and Varagiannis allegedly ordered victims to commit acts of self-harm and engaged in psychological torment and extreme violence against minors. The men are also accused of instructing other members how to recruit potential victims, threaten them and engage in extortion tactics to produce sexually harmful material.<\/p>\n<p>The two men are accused of exploiting at least eight minor victims, some as young as 13 years old, across multiple jurisdictions. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMembers 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,\u201d Andrew Rust, special agent with the FBI, said in the affidavit.<\/p>\n<p>Members of 764 used private information and images of victims to coerce them to provide more extreme and degrading content. This included \u201cimages of the victims cutting the names of 764 members into their bodies, setting themselves on fire, abusing their pets or sibilings, or even suicide,\u201d the FBI said in the affidavit.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--inline_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The FBI and Justice Department also accuse 764 members of engaging in property destruction, physical abuse of animals, and physical assaults on people, including stabbings and attempted murder. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese defendants are accused of orchestrating one of the most heinous online child exploitation enterprises we have ever encountered \u2014 a network built on terror, abuse and the deliberate targeting of children,\u201d U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. \u201cWe will find those who exploit and abuse children, prosecute them, and dismantle every part of their operation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Allison Nixon, chief research officer at Unit 221B, concurred with the Justice Department\u2019s assessment that Nepal and Varagiannis were key players in the group\u2019s operations. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cCom activity is mostly driven by a small number of actors. Arresting them disrupts the whole ecosystem \u2014 not just in violent sextortion but also fraud and hacking,\u201d Nixon said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just like violent street gangs,\u201d she added. \u201cIn general, Com gangs commit fraud for money and then sex crimes for fun. The only place for them is jail.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/body> <\/p>\n<footer class=\"single-article__footer\" readability=\"3.5117647058824\">\n<div class=\"author-card\" readability=\"14\">\n<div class=\"author-card__avatar\">\n<figure class=\"author-card__image-wrap\"> <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-card__image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ddi.mohflo.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged-1.jpg?w=640&ssl=1\" alt=\"Matt Kapko\"> <\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h4 class=\"author-card__name\">Written by Matt Kapko<\/h4>\n<p> Matt Kapko is a reporter at CyberScoop. His beat includes cybercrime, ransomware, software defects and vulnerability (mis)management. The lifelong Californian started his journalism career in 2001 with previous stops at Cybersecurity Dive, CIO, SDxCentral and RCR Wireless News. Matt has a degree in journalism and history from Humboldt State University. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__tags-container\">\n<h4 class=\"single-article__tags-title\">In This Story<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<p> <\/html><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"single-article__ads js-single-article-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-5 ad--rightrail_1 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-4 ad--rightrail_2 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ad ad--sidebar js-single-article-sidebar-3 ad--rightrail_3 \">\n<div class=\"ad__inner\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Advertisement<\/span> <\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"popular-stories popular-stories--single-post\">\n<div 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{"id":7598,"date":"2025-05-01T13:14:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T18:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyberscoop.com\/?p=84379"},"modified":"2025-05-01T13:14:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T18:14:12","slug":"leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ddi.mohflo.net\/index.php\/2025\/05\/01\/leaders-of-764-global-child-sextortion-group-arrested-and-charged\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaders of 764, global child sextortion group, arrested and charged"},"content":{"rendered":"