Hundreds of investigations opened into online network '764' that preys on teens, has NC ties

NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- New details in an ITEAM investigation into the violent online network that the FBI says preys on teens.

Just last week, the ABC11 News I-Team was in Greensboro Federal Court for the hearing of 20-year-old Nepal Prasan from High Point.

He was arrested and charged in a federal complaint for allegedly being one of the leaders behind 764 operating a global child exploitation ring.

The name 764, the FBI said, was coined by the network's founder, who lived in Stephenville, Texas, where the ZIP code begins with the numbers 764. While it may have originated in Texas, the FBI says it has more than 250 such investigations currently underway, with every single one of its 55 field offices across the country handling a 764-related case, with victims as young as nine. David Scott, Assistant Director of the Counterterrorism Division at the FBI, says, "They will target younger females. They will target the vulnerable population."

In an exclusive interview with ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas, Scott says the global network called 764 aims to wreak havoc and upend society by befriending kids on social media and gaming platforms before demanding often violent and sexual content from them.

"They will build bonds with these people and encourage them to take sexually explicit videos and share them, and then they will use that to extort them. Well, now that I have this, I will share this with your entire family and friends if you don't do this, "Scott adds.

The FBI says parents often have no idea their teen is caught up in 764 until it's too late. Thomas talked with parents of a 17-year-old who police arrested for conspiring with a 764 devotee overseas to direct bomb threats at her community. The girl's parents agreed to speak to ABC News on the condition that they alter their faces and voices and not name their daughter. Her mother told Thomas, "It was very difficult to process, because we didn't raise her to engage in that kind of activity."

The parents say their daughter first met the man on an online gaming app, and then they began communicating more regularly through social media. The man led her to believe that he was her boyfriend. He convinced her to share pornography with him, to carve names into her body, and to create 764-related content, including a photo of a nude Barbie doll with "764" written on its forehead. Her family says the case against her is nearly resolved and that she is receiving the help she needs. Her mom adds, "If we can help just one family, then it's worth it."

When it comes to help for parents to worried about whether their child could fall victim to 764, Dr. Shaneeka Moore-Lawrence with the North Carolina PTA says, "It's just one click or swipe that can be detrimental and that can really offset the trajectory of that child."

She says parents need to know what their kids are doing on social media platforms, applications, and online games. "Coming in very quietly into your homes, and you don't even realize that they're there and that's why it's really important for parents to do their diligence to not allow devices to become the new conversational piece or the new babysitter for our kids."

Dr. Moore-Lawrence says kids need to be comfortable and know it's ok to come to parents, educators, or police if they get caught up in online dangers. "If I see something that feels uncomfortable, looks uncomfortable, doesn't look right, that I immediately go and find the nearest adult and that I turn it off as opposed to continuing to explore," Dr. Moore-Lawerence adds.