{"id":356838,"date":"2025-07-25T08:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T03:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/?p=356838"},"modified":"2025-07-25T08:35:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T03:05:52","slug":"the-com-theft-extortion-and-violence-are-a-rising-threat-to-youth-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/the-com-theft-extortion-and-violence-are-a-rising-threat-to-youth-online\/","title":{"rendered":"The Com: Theft, Extortion, and Violence are a Rising Threat to Youth Online"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning the public about a growing and evolving online threat group known as <\/span>The Com<\/abbr>, short for The Community.\u00a0<\/span>The<\/dfn>\u00a0Com is a primarily English speaking, international, online ecosystem comprised of multiple interconnected networks whose members, many of whom are minors, engage in a variety of criminal violations. The FBI estimates thousands of individuals identify as current or recent members of The Com with varying levels of associated activity. Criminal activity conducted by members of The Com includes, but is not limited to, swatting<\/span><\/sup>\/hoax threats, extortion\/sextortion of minors, production and distribution of child sexual abuse material, violent crime, and various types of cyber crimes. The latter category is broad and includes distributed denial-of-service (<\/span>DDoS<\/abbr>) attacks, subscriber identity module (<\/span>SIM<\/abbr>) swapping<\/span><\/sup>, ransomware, intellectual property theft, extortion, cryptocurrency theft, and money laundering. The motivations behind the criminal activity vary, but often fall within one of the following: financial gain, retaliation, ideology, sexual gratification, and notoriety.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

The sophistication of The Com criminal activity has grown over the last four years, with subjects employing increasingly complex methods to mask their identities, hide financial transactions, and launder money. An underlying theme within the entirety of The Com is its members’ interest in and proficiency with cyber related tactics, techniques, and procedures. The Com members have also demonstrated knowledge of the UK and US criminal justice systems. For example, subjects involved with The Com have been known to intentionally recruit juveniles within the United States to perform criminal acts based on their misperception that juveniles cannot be pursued by the US criminal justice system.<\/span><\/p>\n

The deployment of swatting and hoax bomb threats to facilitate other illicit criminal activity is an underlying theme across subgroups within The Com. Members of The Com will engage in swatting when conducting cryptocurrency theft to distract from the ongoing crime. Of note, swatting is the most visible violation that occurs within The Com and often acts as the entry point into the larger Com ecosystem. While subgroups of The Com have different recruitment tactics, in general they target young and impressionable individuals using minor-friendly applications such as social media platforms or gaming sites and indoctrinate them into their ideology. Members of The Com typically range between 11 and 25 years old. Young people are often recruited on gaming sites and social media platforms based on shared interests, or through other members of The Com.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Subsets of The Com<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

There are currently three known primary subsets within The Com: Hacker Com,<\/sup>\u00a0In Real Life (IRL<\/abbr>) Com,<\/sup> and Extortion Com.\u00a0<\/sup>Each subset has a distinct focus; however, members of The Com often participate in criminal activity encompassed in more than one subset and maintain relationships with members in multiple subsets simultaneously, in case their skills are beneficial. The members within these subgroups typically have a shared interest, ideology, or goal and work together, adding others to the group and splintering when necessary, to achieve their mission.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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Recommendations<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The FBI urges the public to exercise caution when posting or messaging personal information, photos, or videos on social media, dating sites, or other online platforms. Posting seemingly innocuous information online may provide threat actors with content to exploit for malicious purposes, including targeting and extortion.<\/span><\/p>\n

The FBI recommends the public consider the following when sharing information or engaging online:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n