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One Minute Guide - Com Networks

This briefing is aimed at raising awareness amongst professionals only and must not be shared directly with children or their families.

What are Com Networks?

Community ‘Com’ Networks are online groups involved in child sexual abuse, cybercrime, serious violence and extremism. Com Network offenders often use grooming and extortion tactics to coerce a victim, with the aim of obtaining intimate images to humiliate, degrade or control them. In extreme cases, victims have been coerced into self-harm or attempting suicide, including the ingestion of toxic or harmful materials or burning themselves. Victims may also be forced to record or livestream these acts, which are then shared within the groups to increase the status and notoriety of the perpetrator. In addition, there is a risk that victims are coerced into recruiting others into Com Network activity or harming others, including their siblings and even strangers in the most extreme cases.

Com Networks are present on virtually all social media and online gaming platforms. Those involved, both victims and perpetrators, are predominantly, but not always, children under the age of 18.

It is essential that professionals across York who are working with and supporting children are aware of Com Networks and the safeguarding risk they pose to children. Raising awareness across all agencies is key to early identification and prevention of Com Network activity.

Government agencies have produced a Com Networks alert, which is designed to raise awareness and assist professionals in recognising and responding to the emerging threat of Com Networks. Professionals working with children should familiarise themselves with this alert and share this briefing with relevant colleagues. Please be aware that the alert contains material which some people may find distressing.

Tactics used by Com Networks and signs to look out for

  • Victims may be coerced into torturing or killing pets and recording the acts as proof of compliance. Groups such as the ‘764 network’ glorify sadism and circulate animal torture videos both to entertain members and further manipulate victims.

  • The use of blood signs and symbols, including:

    • Blood signs: victims are coerced into using their own blood to write the abuser’s name or alias on surfaces or their own bodies.

    • Cut signs: children are forced to deeply carve ‘cut signs’ or the abusers’ online tags directly into their skin.

    • Symbolism: while perpetrators employ neo-Nazi, esoteric or satanic aesthetics for shock value, terror and sadism are their primary motivators rather than religious or occult ideology.

  • Doxing and swatting are often used by Com Networks:

    • Doxing, or information gathering: attackers aggregate a victim’s private information, such as their home address, school or phone number, using social engineering, phishing or leaked databases. This information is then exposed and weaponised against them.

    • Swatting, or weaponisation: attackers use the doxed information to call emergency services. They report a violent, fake emergency, such as a hostage situation or bomb threat, at the victim’s address.

    • The response: unsuspecting, heavily armed police or tactical units are dispatched to the home, creating a dangerous and potentially lethal environment for the victim.

What to do if you are worried that a child has been exposed to a Com Network

This is not an exhaustive list, but provides some ideas around the next steps you can consider if you have concerns that a child you are working with or supporting has been exposed to Com Network activity:

  • Make a safeguarding referral or contact the child’s allocated worker in Children’s Social Care.

  • Report the concern to North Yorkshire Police.

  • An allocated worker within Children’s Social Care can complete an Exploitation Risk Assessment to explore the concern and bring it for discussion at the Child Exploitation Risk Assessment meeting.

  • Consider what wellbeing support may be required for the child. This could include pastoral support through school or a referral to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) or St Giles. Please consider Ivison Trust for support for parents.

  • If more than one child is implicated in the same Com Network activity, consider undertaking peer mapping to consider joint safety and wider disruption.

  • Explore resources available from Internet Matters, the CEOP Safety Centre or the National Cyber Security Centre to support you, parents or caregivers to talk to the child about what has happened to them.

  • If you feel that a child is at immediate risk of harm, contact the police on 999.

  • Consider making a Prevent referral or seeking guidance about this.

  • Professionals should be aware that, during an interaction with a child involved with or a victim of Com Network activity, they may be exposed to distressing behaviour, disclosures or material. Any wellbeing concerns you have about yourself or colleagues should be discussed with your line manager or through your agency’s wellbeing services.

If you have a concern that a York child is vulnerable or at risk of significant harm, contact the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub by emailing [email protected].

Further information

Visit the City of York Safeguarding Children Partnership website for up-to-date information and the latest news.

You can also sign up to the Partnership newsletter.