TEXAS — As a lifelong gamer, Jimmy Wu always wanted to share his love of video games with his children.
“I wanted to share that with them as well and have something to bond with them through,” Wu said.
His 12-year-old daughter eventually became a gamer herself. But Wu says she began communicating with people she met through online platforms, including Discord and Roblox, and those interactions took a troubling turn.
“Those people she was talking to encouraged her to self-harm,” Wu said.
Wu’s experience comes as the FBI warns parents about violent online networks targeting children through popular gaming and social media platforms.
Investigators say these groups use manipulation, extortion and threats to pressure children into increasingly dangerous acts, including self-harm. According to the FBI, complaints involving these types of online predator encounters have increased by 600% nationwide since the agency began tracking them approximately two years ago.
Jason Hudson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston field office, says these networks operate under several names including 764, Harm Notion and The Com.
The FBI says victims are typically between the ages of 10 and 17, and the exploitation can go beyond demands for sexually explicit material.
“The ultimate goal for a lot of these groups is to ultimately have a child commit suicide, while also live streaming,” Hudson said.
The FBI’s warning comes as child safety on gaming platforms faces increased legal scrutiny in Texas. Last year, the Texas Attorney General’s Office sued Roblox, accusing the company of putting profits ahead of children’s safety.
In March, a judge dismissed part of the state’s case but allowed a claim alleging that Roblox misled parents about the safety of its platform to move forward.
Roblox told Spectrum News that it implemented new safety measures earlier this year, including mandatory age checks, disabling chats for children under 9 and an artificial intelligence monitoring system called Sentinel designed to detect potential grooming patterns.
“You don’t, I guess, realize how prevalent it is until it affects your own family,” Wu said.
Investigators say another concerning aspect of these networks is that the people targeting children may also be young.
“A lot of these predators are juveniles themselves,” Hudson said.
In Wu’s daughter’s case, he says the person communicating with her was also a minor.
“They were using that same communication style that your kid and their generation uses, so it kind of puts you off guard,” Wu said.
Federal investigators are urging parents to remain involved in their children’s online activities and pay attention to potential warning signs, including changes in behavior or secrecy surrounding online communications.
The FBI says many of these cases still go unreported and encourages families to contact local law enforcement or submit a report through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov.
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