A Gwinnett County teenager who carved a stranger’s name into his leg after online threats is part of a disturbing nationwide trend that has federal investigators tracking hundreds of similar cases.
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In April, a mother discovered her 14-year-old had carved a stranger’s name into his leg with a knife. The texts that led to this horrifying act came while he was playing video games.
“My son, he’s scared,” she said, speaking anonymously to protect her son.
Her son’s explanation revealed how quickly an ordinary evening turned into something sinister. A stranger found his phone number and made a chilling demand.
“The guy when he call him and tell my son you need to do it and then texting, send it to me the proof,” she told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson.
When the teenager hesitated, the stranger threatened his family.
“He say if you don’t do it that I post you address on the internet. And then somebody know where you live and somebody go do something wrong with your family,” the mother said.
Federal investigators say it matches the playbook of an organized group called 764.
“764 is one of the groups that started with the ideology of they wanted to desensitize primarily children to violence and to accelerate the downfall of society,” said FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown.
The FBI has been tracking these individuals linked to the online group. The FBI Atlanta office alone has received about 70 tips about similar cases since last October.
“They target children primarily, often female children. They look at vulnerable children,” Brown said. “These kind of groups are … it’s shocking what they do.”
Gwinnett County Police Sgt. Jennifer Richter investigated the local case and knows the challenges firsthand.
“In a lot of cases, they’re finding these kids through popular online platforms, gaming platforms. Some of them you might be familiar with would be maybe Roblox or Minecraft,” Richter said.
She says predators use every trick in the book to hide their tracks.
“These cases can be difficult to investigate. If the call is coming from a random internet phone number, if the messages are coming through on an end-to-end encrypted chat platform, it can be very difficult,” Richter explained.
Online safety expert Titania Jordan with Bark Technologies has a blunt message for parents who think this could never happen to their family.
“Please don’t think not my child. Good kids make bad choices,” Jordan said.
She says parents need to watch for warning signs that might seem like normal teenage behavior but could reveal something much darker.
“Sudden secrecy around devices, unexplained self-harm marks or cuts, anxiety around screen time being curtailed can really be signals of exploitation,” Jordan said.
For this Gwinnett family, the nightmare isn’t over. Months later, the mother says her son’s gaming apps are gone but she sees the lasting impact on her son every day.
“My son, he had this one mark in the own body for the whole life,” she said.
She’s sharing her story to warn other parents before it’s too late.
“I tell you, the reason I do this interview is that the parent needs to pay attention for the kids,” she said.
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