ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) said this week it rescued a teenage girl in the southern city of Karachi from a violent, international online network who forced her to commit acts of animal cruelty and self-harm after being alerted by a foreign intelligence agency.

NCCIA Additional Director Tariq Nawaz told Arab News on Wednesday that the incident involved a 14-year-old girl from Karachi, who was the victim of blackmailing and harassment by the notorious group ‘764.’ The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identifies 764 as a “violent online group” comprising individuals who seek to coerce and manipulate children into engaging in acts against themselves, such as suicide, animals and other children.

Nawaz said the teenage girl was approached by the network via interactive online games and social media platforms, including Instagram and Discord. She was subsequently directed to use the DuckDuckGo browser to access dark web sites. Pakistani authorities were able to rescue the girl after the NCCIA were provided a tip-off by an international investigative agency about the case, who also provided the agency an Internet protocol (IP) address. Investigators used the IP address to trace the victim’s house in Karachi. Nawaz did not name the global agency.

“She is a 14-year-old child,” Nawaz, who heads the Sindh region of the NCCIA, told Arab News.

Members of the notorious online gang coerced the girl through a series of tasks, he said. The victim was first instructed to share her photographs and then forced to kill her pet cat, Nawaz added.

After the animal was killed, the perpetrators allegedly used the incident and threats to expose her photographs online to pressurize her into further acts of self-injury. He did not elaborate what those acts were.

“She was being blackmailed like that,” Nawaz said, adding that the girl had been rescued and was now safe. He said investigators traced the IP address through the relevant Internet service provider, reached the victim’s house, and seized digital devices that were used by her.

The NCCIA official said the investigation has identified victims linked to the 764 network in Pakistan, the United States, Australia and Britain. Pakistani investigators have identified one victim in the country so far and are working to establish the identities of two other suspected victims, he added.

Nawaz said the agency had begun working with an international investigative directorate to examine evidence recovered from the devices and identify other victims and suspected perpetrators. He said Pakistani authorities guided the victim and warned her of the dangers of committing such acts in the future after she was rescued while parallel forensic investigations continue.

“Our investigation is running on different IPs. We are working on the identification of other victims,” he said, adding that investigators were also seeking information from the platforms where the girl’s online contact with the group began.

The inquiry is examining digital records and communications to establish the identities of people involved in the network and determine whether its activities extend to other victims in Pakistan or abroad, the official added.

Nawaz said 764 is an international network whose members are present in multiple countries. He said they use masked IP addresses and concealed identities to evade detection by authorities.

The case highlights the challenges facing investigators as online groups exploit gaming and mainstream social media platforms to approach minors before moving communications to more concealed online spaces.

The operation is the latest in a series of joint cross-border enforcement actions between Pakistani law enforcement and foreign intelligence partners targeting cybercrimes against minors.

In September, Pakistani investigators arrested a teenager who had allegedly used artificial intelligence models to plan a family poisoning. The arrest followed after the FBI alerted Pakistani authorities.