Online gangs of young men sharing violent and misogynistic material and collaborating on online and offline crimes are an emerging threat, the UK’s national crime agency has warned.
Here are two recent examples of people who have been convicted for crimes perpetrated as a result of their membership of dangerous online groups.
Cameron Finnigan, 19, was given a nine-year extended sentence in January for possessing a terrorist document and indecent images of children, and encouraging someone online to take her own life.
Finnigan, from West Sussex, was arrested last year after a number of posts online identified by police, who established that he was a member of an extreme satanic group named “764”. The group subscribed to militant accelerationist ideology, which is an extreme rightwing view that believes in rapid capitalist growth, technological advancement and radical social change.
Officers found in Finnigan’s bedroom a large tapestry depicting the satanic beast or Baphomet goat head, a defaced Bible with red writing on referencing 764, a black notebook containing an assortment of statements, pentagrams and swastikas and red writing on the floor and door, referencing his internet persona ACID.
One Telegram chat recovered from Finnigan’s Chromebook showed communication with an individual believed to be a young female, who told him she was considering suicide, which he encouraged her to carry out. He asked her to stream it so he could share it with “764”, then boasted about this in his chat group.
Finnigan was also found in possession of an 11-page pdf document outlining how to carry out “truck attacks”, which gave information on attack planning including knife and firearm mass casualty attacks. He had also filmed himself damaging a nearby parked car.
On a Telegram group chat Finnigan posted a photo of a red tent in a field near his home with messaging suggesting he wanted to kill a homeless person. The tent was found with graffiti associated with the 764 group at both entrances to the field, matching the red spray paint found in his room.
DCS Claire Finlay, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing South East, said it was a “complex case interlinking terrorism and serious criminal offences”. Although Finnigan claimed the statements he made online were fantasy, his actions had real-world implications, she added.
Richard Ehiemere, 21, was convicted in February for two fraud offences and three offences related to possessing and sharing indecent images of children, linked to his membership of an online criminal group that blackmailed young teenage girls. He is due to be sentenced in May.
Ehiemere, from Hackney in east London, was convicted four years after an initial referral from the online platform Discord, which was concerned about the activities of the CVLT group he belonged to. CVLT is a form of “Com” network, where young men share harmful content and commit online offences.
The investigation into Ehiemere established that his online moniker “Retaliate#1337” had logged on to Discord channels connected to CVLT 383 times, where he had disclosed stolen email addresses and passwords. The profile is also believed to have shared indecent images of children.
Police also found conversations relating to hacking, selling unlawfully obtained material and how to avoid detection on his mobile phone.
Steve Laval, the senior investigating officer at the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Ehiemere was a key enabler for this harmful online group, providing stolen data which they could use to defraud hundreds of victims.”
