Europe’s gangs recruit teens online for killings, bombings and abductions

Teenagers are being pulled into killings, bombings and abductions through social media and encrypted chats, a recruitment pipeline that law enforcement says is moving from Europe toward the United States. Europol warned that criminal networks across Europe were targeting minors online and that recent investigations showed young people involved in almost all criminal markets, from extortion to murder.

The agency said the tactic had shifted from occasional use to a deliberate strategy meant to evade detection, arrest and prosecution. Recruiters use coded language, slang and gamification tactics to make criminal work feel like a challenge or game, while organized crime groups increasingly treat youngsters as low-risk, disposable assets who can keep core members anonymous and off the radar. Europol has said the recruitment often happens on social media with encrypted messaging features, making the contacts harder to trace.

That threat turned into arrests when Denmark’s National Special Crime Unit, with support from the Swedish Police and Europol’s Operational Taskforce GRIMM, moved against attempted murders ordered through encrypted platforms. Europol said the case included a May 7, 2025 attack in Kokkedal, and that seven people ages 14 to 26 were arrested or surrendered to Danish authorities from abroad, including Sweden and Morocco. Europol also said two 18-year-old men in western Sweden were suspected of recruiting youngsters to commit targeted killings in Denmark and Sweden, a pattern the agency described as “violence-as-a-service.”

The warning is not confined to Europe. The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a March 6, 2025 public service announcement that it had seen a sharp increase in activity by “764” and other violent online networks operating in the United States and around the globe. The FBI said victims are typically between 10 and 17 years old, though some are as young as 9, and that the groups use public online platforms including social media, gaming platforms and mobile applications to threaten, blackmail and manipulate minors into harmful acts.

Federal warnings kept coming. The FBI Boston Division issued an alert on Feb. 19, 2026 about the same threat to children and vulnerable victims in New England, and FBI Dallas said on May 12, 2026 that members of these networks often connect with minors on gaming and social media platforms, build trust by posing as friends, and then coerce them into harming themselves or others. Britain’s National Crime Agency also warned in 2025 about online networks of predominantly teenage boys dedicated to inflicting harm and other criminality.

The common thread is a transnational system that feeds on isolation, secrecy and youth vulnerability. Europol and the FBI have both urged law enforcement and tech platforms to do more to detect, remove and disrupt violent content and recruitment before the pipeline hardens further inside the United States.