The head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned of a ‘deeply concerning’ rising trend in online networks of teenage boys dedicated to inflicting harm and committing a range of criminality.

According to the NCA, these online forums or communities – known as “Com networks” – see offenders collaborate or compete to cause harm across a broad spectrum of criminality, both on and offline, including cyber-attacks, fraud, extremism, serious violence, and child sexual abuse.

Reports of this emerging threat increased six-fold in the UK from 2022-2024, with NCA analysts estimating that thousands of users based in the UK and other western countries have exchanged millions of messages online relating to sexual and physical abuse.

Although adults are involved in these online communities, the NCA said of particular concern are teenage boys, who have often been found sharing sadistic and misogynistic material, targeting both those of their own age and younger.

Among the offenders identified by the NCA are a new generation of young, English-speaking cybercriminals who work together to execute data breaches, commit fraud, launch malware or ransomware attacks, and who use social engineering techniques on victims, some as young as 11 years old.

Evidence suggests that offenders are motivated by gaining notoriety and status, which can be achieved based on the harm they inflict and the depravity of the illegal content they share.

“This is a hugely complex and deeply concerning phenomenon,” said Graeme Biggar, NCA director general.

“Young people are being drawn into these sadistic and violent online gangs where they are collaborating at scale to inflict, or incite others to commit, serious harm.

“These groups are not lurking on the dark web, they exist in the same online world and platforms young people use on a daily basis. Operating online clearly makes these offenders feel protected and out of reach but that is absolutely not the case. 

“We are collaborating with policing, tech companies, safeguarding agencies and psychologists to better understand how young people become offenders and safeguard victims.”

The warning comes as the NCA launches its latest National Strategic Assessment, an annual report that outlines the serious and organised crime (SOC) threats facing the UK.

The new report claims that although the SOC threat in the UK grew in 2024, it was at a slower pace than in previous years, with much of this growth being driven by online connectivity, developments in AI and automation, along with an increasing dependence of the public on online services.

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The NCA said that the online landscape of these criminal networks is vast, with many groups having a different focus, such as cybercrime or inflicting physical harm, however membership is loose and fluid, leading to a range of different criminality being committed by individual offenders.

“SOC offenders are increasingly exploiting advances in technology to access victims and cause them harm on a larger scale, connect with global networks, and enhance their adaptability and resilience to disruption,” claims the report.

“It is highly likely that the overall threat posed by SOC will continue to increase over the next 18 months, with the rapid evolution of the SOC threat challenging law enforcement’s capacity and capability to respond.”