Introduction
The Com is a loose-knit online cybercrime collective known for targeting children and teenagers, engaging in activities such as blackmail and sextortion. A member of The Com, 20-year-old Justin Swaddle, was sentenced to two years in prison for his crimes against nearly 120 victims worldwide. This article provides an in-depth look at The Com and the specific actions of Swaddle, including the types of offenses committed and the impact on victims.
The Com: An Overview
The Com is an online cybercrime collective known for targeting children and teenagers. The collective is organized into multiple subgroups, including the (S)extortion Com, which coerces minors into sex crimes and encourages self-harm and suicide. The Com also includes the Cyber Com, which orchestrates network intrusions and ransomware attacks. The 764 subgroup, which surfaced in 2021, is notorious for grooming young people into producing explicit content later used for extortion or shared among members.
Justin Swaddle's Offenses
Swaddle, known online as 'Epstein', 'Rugen', and 'Moscow', was first arrested in October 2023 by West Yorkshire Police. He was sentenced to two years in prison for multiple child sexual abuse offenses and blackmail. Swaddle targeted young and vulnerable victims all over the world to abuse and scare them into carrying out shocking self-harm and sexual activity, purely to gain popularity with his peers online. He gained the trust of his victims, before collecting private information about them so he could threaten to share their intimate images or report them to their school or parents to incite further content.
Evidence Found During the Investigation
Investigators found images of children with ages ranging from three to 17, several of them showing the result of acts encouraged by Swaddle. Telegram messages recovered from Swaddle's device showed he had attempted to incite a child to sexually abuse a younger child and record it for him, threatening to leak indecent images if further content was not received. Numerous images were found on his device showing victims with self-harm injuries, including Swaddle's aliases being carved into their skin, and indecent images of children in Categories A to C, with A being the most severe.
The Impact of The Com
The Com's members recruit and groom victims through online platforms, coercing them into self-harm, violence, and the production of child sexual abuse material, often through blackmail. The Com has been linked to ransomware attacks against Las Vegas casino breaches in September 2023 and, more recently, UK retailing giants Marks & Spencer, Co-op, and Harrods in April 2025.
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