ABC News (AU)
· collected 2026-10-05 · by Daryna Zadvirna and Ninah Kopel
Emma, a 14-year-old from Western Australia, became entangled with an online cult that coerced her into harmful activities after she was lured by someone pretending to be a friend on the gaming platform Roblox. The perpetrator, believed to operate in Eastern Europe, escalated the situation to include demands for explicit content and threats of exposure if Emma did not comply. The article warns of similar networks around the world linked to severe incidents including suicide and school shootings, highlighting how these groups use intimidation and graphic content to maintain control over their victims.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-05,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
A 14-year-old girl from Western Australia, who uses the name Emma*, became a victim of a sinister online cult after meeting someone on the gaming platform Roblox. Initially, this person posed as a friend but soon began making requests for "selfies" and increasingly explicit content. When she refused, he threatened to release her private information publicly.
Emma was further coerced into self-harm and other ritualistic acts to please her online predator. Police believe that the individual responsible is located in Eastern Europe. The FBI has labeled such activities as "modern-day terrorism," linking them to suicide threats and violent incidents abroad, including school shootings.
Roblox, which Emma enjoyed for its role-playing features and avatar customization options, is used by approximately 1.7 million Australian children aged 6 to 13. Emma's story aims to warn other young users about the dangers lurking within seemingly innocent online interactions.
Written for “Online Cult Targeting Kids” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Emma* thought she made a friend online.
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she → think → friend
Instead, the 14-year-old found herself sucked into a sinister, sadistic online cult.
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herself → find → cult
Warning: This article contains graphic content and references to self-harm and suicide.
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article → contain → harm
The teenager lives in Western Australia, but police believe the person who lured her is somewhere in Eastern Europe.
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who → live → Europe
She is among a growing number of children targeted by what the FBI describes as "modern-day terrorism", which has been linked to reports of suicide, animal torture and school shootings overseas.
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which → grow → suicide
"I had no choice.
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I → have → choice
I got told that I had to self-harm for him," Emma says.
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Emma → tell → him
"I had to use my body to make him happy."
With the support of her parents, the teenager has decided to share her experience with 7.30 to prevent other children falling victim.
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children → have → victim
Incited to commit ritualistic deeds
Emma, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, loved to play Roblox.
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name → incite → Roblox
"You can role-play, you can dress up your avatar, you can buy currency on the game," she says.
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she → play → game
Around 1.7 million Australian children aged between 6 and 13 use the online gaming platform.
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children → age → platform
"I met this guy … he said that I was really good at the game," Emma says.
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Emma → meet → game
The teenager says she was asked to move to Discord, another platform that allows file sharing and interactions through messages or video chat.
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that → say → messages
Seemingly innocuous questions like her age and what school she went to turned to requests for "selfies" and then more explicit content.
"Then he started asking me for, like, pics that were not good … [telling] me 'if you don't do this, I will leak you,'" she said.
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she → go → you
At this point, the perpetrator had gathered enough information to identify Emma and her parents.
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perpetrator → gather → Emma
He even found their contact numbers.
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He → find → numbers
Then things escalated further.
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things → escalate → ?
Emma was incited to self-harm.
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Emma → incite → harm
She was also told to carry out and film sinister acts like using her blood to write a username on a wall.
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She → tell → wall
Running her hand along her scars, Emma explains that the group glorified gore.
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group → run → gore
"They made me upset, but I was too scared to tell my parents.
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I → make → parents
I never told my parents about any of this," she says.
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she → tell → this
One day the teenager was told to live stream her suicide.
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teenager → tell → suicide
When she refused, they messaged her father.
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they → refuse → father
"When I opened it … it was like a collage of pictures and it was ... blood, cuts, pornographic stuff.
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it → open → pictures
I felt sick and scared at the same time," Emma's dad says.
"
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dad → feel → time
I didn't really know what it was about ...
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it → know → what
I had no idea that it was going to be even bigger than that."
Written in blood
The person who targeted Emma is part of a global network.
7.30 has been monitoring some of their encrypted messaging group chats for months.
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7.30 → have → months
They share material, including videos of self-harm.
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They → share → harm
There are also photos of walls and bathtubs covered in satanic symbols and usernames written in what appears to be blood.
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what → be → symbols
AFP Cybercrime Commander Graeme Marshall has been investigating child exploitation for years, both nationally and internationally.
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Marshall → investigate → years
He says these networks are unlike anything he has ever seen.
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he → say → anything
"It's all about status within the group," Commander Marshall says.
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Marshall → say → group
"And that compels the perpetrators to continue to try and coerce their victims into doing ever greater self-harm or other activities.
"
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that → compel → harm
The other alarming thing that we have seen is that some of the victims then are also coerced to become offenders.
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some → see → victims
"
These groups go by different names, but the most notorious is 764.
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notorious → go → names
It was created by a Texas teenager six years ago and named after the zip code of his town.
Bradley Cadenhead was 15 at the time and is currently serving an 80-year prison term.
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Cadenhead → create → term
US cybercrime expert Keven Hendricks says the ideologies that underpin groups like 764 are not new.
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that → say → 764
"[The] mixing of demonology and Satanism with neo-Nazi tropes, anti-Semitic tropes ... it's like you throw everything into a stew and you let it sit.
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it → throw → stew
It just starts to bubble, and really, that's how this all built up," Mr Hendricks says.
"
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Hendricks → start → ?
…and 38 more, not listed.
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