“Loners” and “introverted” minors who are heavy screen users are the usual targets of extremist “groomers” exploiting gaming platforms to encourage children to commit radicalization and violence, the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group told a Senate panel Wednesday. 

As of 1 July, the number of rescued minors targeted by online predators to engage in self-harm or violence towards others rose to 24 from 19 in April.

The latest figure resulted from 17 rescue operations carried out by the PNP-ACG since October last year.

PNP-ACG Deputy Director for Administration Richmond Tadina said the rescued minors shared one thing in common: they were isolated and were “engaged in long use of cellphones.” 

All of them were also “exposed” to Gorebox, a physics-based sandbox video game being blamed by police as a contributing factor to the 22 June fatal shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban, killing at least three students, and wounding 20 others.

“All of them manifested that they were members of the True Crime Community. This is the community [where] they have one interest, which is violent extremism,” Tadina explained to the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality, which probed alarming reports of nihilistic violent extremism in the country, including the recent school shooting.

Germany-based Gorebox developer Felix Filip was invited to the probe but declined to participate, whether in person or virtually. 

The True Crime Community is a digital subculture or fandom characterized by fascination with real-life criminal cases, specifically mass killers. 

Similar to this are “764” and “No Lives Matter.” Both are “extremist” organizations that originated internationally and can reach young audiences through online and gaming platforms such as Gorebox, Roblox, and Minecraft. 

Based on police findings, Tadina said these minors “share, post, and comment” violent content online, one indication that foreign groomers already brainwashed them in engaging in radicalization and extremism. 

He cited the statement of the older sister of one of the student-victims of the Tacloban shooting as one piece of evidence that could corroborate their conclusion.

Janica Bituin shared with senators that her younger brother, Gerric, was close with the two minor suspects, alias “Rod” and “Nash”, who were his classmates in Grade 8, though he is closer to the latter. 

The suspects are both Grade 9 students at the same school. They are currently in custody.

Nash, 14, allegedly fired at Gerric while facing away, with the bullet penetrating his back and neck and exiting through his chin. Gerric underwent an operation on Tuesday.

According to Janica, Gerric described Nash as “cheerful” and “a joker,” but prior to the shooting incident, the suspect had behaved strangely.

Based on reports, Nash was also described by his neighbors as once social and interactive with his playmates but became isolated as he grew up.

“Based on the algorithms, this is what the groomers are looking [for] as potential victims,” Tadina told the panel. 

Nash used a government-issued 9mm Glock 17 pistol registered to his aunt, Police Staff Sgt. Arla Ray Pacencia. 

In defense, Pacencia told senators that although she brought the suspect into a firing range on one occasion as he dreamed of becoming a police officer, Nash used her pistol without her consent. 

She claimed that the gun was kept safe, but her nephew “unlawfully” entered her house and “forcefully” damaged her locker. 

Nash was also an avid player of Gorebox, according to police. Gorebox is one of the video games being flagged as an alleged breeding ground for groomers, mostly foreigners, to lure minor gamers into committing violent acts, such as school shootings.

Investigation by the PNP-ACG revealed that, through chatbox, Gorebox, among other video games, is being exploited by foreign extremists to connect and manipulate minors.

Eventually, the conversation will migrate into encrypted messaging apps to bypass safety filters.

“They use Discord, Telegram, Instagram, Snapchat among others, wherein they can have end-to-end encrypted messaging. [After] they gained the child’s trust, or the potential victim, the groomer will show violent videos,” Tadina said, partly in Filipino. 

The groomers, he added, will manipulate the minors into thinking that they have family problems to sway them into isolation and subsequently committing violent acts. 

“So, from a person who is a loner, it is easy for him to be [perusaded] by the groomers,” he pointed out.

Panel chair Risa Hontiveros said a probe conducted by her office found that a Facebook account using a pseudonym “Sedykh Ryazanov” commented on the dummy account of Nash named “Date Larping.” 

The comment stated, “Make sure you delete Discord, Reddit, Telegram, so there's no evidence that can be found,” based on the screenshot presented by Hontiveros.

Hontiveros believed that “Sedykh Ryazanov" was the “groomer” of Nash and Rod, though she averred that it was still premature to make conclusions. 

Nevertheless, she said the screenshot could already serve as a “lead” and that it had already been forwarded to the National Bureau of Investigation.