He called himself “White Tiger” and is said to have made a 13-year-old boy hang in front of the camera and forced other young people to inflict massive self-injuries. One day after the Hamburg arrest, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) now warns of chat groups that are targeting unstable minors.

The perpetrators, who are frequently enough not yet adults, reportedly sneak into their victims’ trust to “get them into a perilous cycle of threats, extortion, and self-harm – up to suicide.” Contact is made via social networks, messenger services, or online games. “In particular, sensitive children and adolescents aged eight to seventeen are addressed, especially those who are already mentally noticeable or belong to social minorities,” said the BKA.

Sacrifice with “Shower”

So, everything starts with the prelude of affection. The victims reportedly have to be “showered” with “love” in order to remove the attention afterward and to pay demands, according to one of the tips from the community, which only describes itself as “Com” and acts on Discord, originally created for computer players, Telegram, and also Instagram. “Blackmail and manipulation manuals” are circulating. Goal: to obtain nude photos or videos with which the victims can then be blackmailed, mostly with the threat of forwarding them to family or friends.

Outbidding Competition in the Event of cruelty

According to the BKA,the victims are reportedly pushed,among other things,to scratch the names of the groups or perpetrators into the skin,to perform humiliating or sexual actions – sometimes in the live stream – to kill their own pets,or even to injure themselves or to celebrate suicide.

As the Hamburg investigators report, the members of the group “764” frequently enough fought an “outbidding competition” about who could drive which victims to the most extreme acts. “The perpetrators act perfidiously and manipulatively – usually not for financial reasons, but to exercise power and to gain recognition within the community,” summarizes the BKA.

Prevention: “The Gut Feeling Plays an Vital role”

In Schleswig-Holstein, police prevention officers take care of clarifying to children and young people about the dangers of the Internet.To do this, they attend schools in uniform.

But how do you convey to young people that there are “online predators” who are often only a little older than they are? Heike Bredfeldt-Lüth from the Central Office for Police Prevention in Kiel says: “In fact, the gut feeling plays an important role. if I feel uncomfortable, it cannot be good for me. This is a task of prevention.” The police have the task of showing children and adolescents where there are criminal limits. “So that it is clear: what a person does here or demands from me is wrong.” As a rule,this awareness is not yet available or not pronounced,which,such as,shows in cases where children’s pornographic images are shared into chats.

Important: Trust in the Parents

It is important for Bredfeldt-Lüth that police cannot stand alone in prevention, and schools and parents, in particular, are also an important component. “Parents should be interested in what their children do on the Internet. A base of trust is important here, because then the children also ask for advice, trust themselves.”

Thes are the Warning Signals

The Federal Criminal Police Office also advises parents to have “open, value-free interaction – also about stressful topics” and calls out warning signs that should be paid attention to: sudden social withdrawal, moodiness or nervousness, excessive online times, especially at night, inexplicable gifts, some of which are costly, fresh injuries or scratched symbols, noticeable dealing with extreme content or fantasies of violence, and pets that suddenly behave differently or are damaged.

“I Felt That They Really Loved Me”

“Nobody who gets into such structures is to blame,” emphasizes the BKA. The Canadian, who was a victim of the group “764” at the age of 15, had already been sexually abused as a child and told a Romanian journalist: “I had the feeling that they really loved me.” In the therapy later, she stated in her diary: “I was a lost soul and found serenity and comfort in the familiarity of abuse.”