Red Hot Cyber
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The FBI has issued a warning about a rapidly growing threat from IRL Com, a subgroup of the underground group The Com that actively recruits teenagers to commit real-world crimes. These aren’t cyber threats, but rather direct violence: contract attacks, kidnappings, armed robberies, and swatting.
According to the agency, IRL Com participants, mostly teenage boys, join together in closed groups based on interests or beliefs and coordinate their actions, including the recruitment of new participants. They communicate with each other via instant messaging and social networks, and if they refuse to cooperate or try to abandon the game, they begin to pressure those who disagree with them with threats or blackmail, even resorting to outright reprisals.
In this case, swatting isn’t just a method of intimidation, but part of a business model. False reports of armed attacks or hostage situations, requiring special forces to intervene at the victims’ homes, are used as a means of pressure, to make money, and even as an internal system of punishment. As the FBI points out, in these groups, the more publicized the incident, the greater the prestige of its organizer. Some leaders use swatting to intimidate their participants: if they disobey, the “disobedient” person or their family becomes the target.
Previously, the UK’s National Crime Agency issued a similar warning, stating that The Com was increasingly inducing teenagers to blackmail, defraud, distribute malware, and even commit violence against other minors.
In May, Finnish police reported that The Com was manipulating minors into committing acts that were dangerous not only to others, but also to the perpetrators themselves. And last month, seven suspects, including a 14-year-old, were arrested in Denmark. According to investigators, they coordinated a series of contract attacks and murders using encrypted chats and a paid violence system.
The FBI’s latest warning comes after a joint investigation with British police led to the arrest of three young men suspected of organizing swatting attacks with threats of mass shootings in the United States and Canada between October 2022 and April 2023.
Com remains a sprawling network of hackers, extortionists, SIM swappers, and extremists. Among the most notorious subgroups is Scattered Spider, previously linked to corporate attacks and blackmail. But in the case of IRL Com, digital activity is increasingly turning into physical violence, often involving students. The FBI urges parents, teachers, and platforms to pay particular attention to new forms of threat, where the internet is merely a springboard for offline crimes.
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