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A yearlong Europol-coordinated operation dubbed “Project Compass” has led to 30 arrests and 179 suspects being tied to “The Com,” an on-line cybercrime collective that targets younger other folks and younger other folks.

In a teach issued on Thursday, Europol said that investigators identified 62 victims and correct now safeguarded four of them from the neighborhood’s attacks.

Launched in January 2025 and led by Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre, the Mission Compass joint motion has introduced collectively law enforcement companies from 28 nations to fight The Com (rapid for Community).

Described by Europol as a decentralized nihilistic extremist network, The Com is a loose-knit network of English-speaking cybercriminals identified for focusing on, victimizing, and recruiting younger other folks for extortion, violence, and the manufacturing of child sexual exploitation topic matter (CSAM).

The Com operates all the diagram in which thru a tall favor of social media, on-line gaming environments, messaging apps, and music streaming platforms, and is organized correct into a few subgroups, including:

• Offline Com, which promotes property damage, harming others, and committing acts of terrorism,
• Cyber Com, which orchestrates network intrusions and ransomware attacks,
• (S)extortion Com, which coerces minors into sex crimes and encourages self-anxiety and suicide.

Any other subgroup that first surfaced in 2021 and is identified as “764” is namely infamous within The Com because it grooms younger other folks into producing speak express, which is then worn for blackmail or shared among members.

Two alleged 764 leaders (21-one year-worn Leonidas Varagiannis and 20-one year-worn Prasan Nepal) had been arrested in April 2025 and charged with working an world child exploitation ring, and are now facing lifestyles in detention middle.

The Com has beforehand been linked to high-profile ransomware attacks towards Marks & Spencer, Co-op, and Harrods in April 2025, as well to Las Vegas on line casino breaches in September 2023.

“These networks deliberately target children in the digital spaces where they feel most at ease,” said Anna Sjöberg, the head of Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre.

“Project Compass allows us to intervene earlier, safeguard victims and disrupt those who exploit vulnerability for extremist purposes. No country can address this threat alone – and through this cooperation, we are closing the gaps they try to hide in.”