A mother in Lebanon, Tennessee, on Monday said that her daughter was the victim of the predatory online group, 764, who the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently labeled “Nihilistic Violent Extremists.”
Crystal Finley told WKRN on Monday that her daughter was groomed by a 764 member who first claimed to be a friend, but according to the outlet, “groomed” the child to produce and send images and video, including child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and violent acts.
“It goes as far as when she would self harm, they were telling her a message to write in her blood,” the mother told the television station.
The outlet reported that the FBI first called the group a national security threat in September, and the agency released a new public service announcement warning against the group last week.
It warned, “764 is a violent online group made-up of individuals who seek to coerce and manipulate children into engaging in unspeakable acts against themselves, animals, and other children, even suicide.”
The law enforcement agency’s warning came after the DOJ on November 20 announced a grand jury indictment charging an alleged member of the group, 20-year-old Erik Lee Madison of Maryland, with three counts of sexually exploiting a child, coercing or enticing a child, and one count of cyberstalking.
It is specifically alleged that Madison is a member of 764, which the DOJ called “a criminal organization of Nihilistic Violent Extremists,” who “use known online social media communications platforms as mediums to support the possession, production, and sharing of extreme gore media and child sex abuse material with vulnerable, juvenile populations.”
According to the DOJ, the group’s exploitation of children often involves “coordinated extortions of teenagers” where victims are blackmailed “to comply with the group’s demands.”
In April, the DOJ reported the arrest of two alleged 764 leaders, Leonidas Varagiannis and Prasan Nepal, who were separately located in Greece and North Carolina when apprehended. It also revealed some of the group’s purported goals.
The 764 group allegedly seeks “to destroy civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors. The 764 network’s accelerationist goals include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the United States Government.”
It also claimed the group uses the illicit CSAM obtained from victims to create digitally encrypted “Lorebooks,” which are traded between members as a type of online currency, and alleges that new recruits were trained on “grooming tactics” and held to “content production expectations.”
The report of a 764 victim in Tennessee comes just weeks after the DOJ secured a guilty plea from Michail Chkhikvishvili, the leader of the separate nihilistic extremist group, Maniac Murder Cult.
The DOJ seemingly named Chkhikvishvili as one of two sources of inspiration for the attack committed in January at Antioch High School in Nashville by Solomon Henderson, who killed one student before taking his own life.
When it announced Chkhikvishvili accepted an agreement to plead guilty, the DOJ revealed, “Prior to the attack, in an audio recording posted online and attributed to him, the attacker claimed he was taking action on behalf of Maniac Murder Cult and at least one other group.”
Watch the FBI’s new public service advertisement warning the public about 764:
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
