British Columbia father Jason Sokolowski is issuing a stark warning to parents about an online extremist network known as 764, which he says groomed his teenage daughter Penelope into committing suicide. Penelope, a gifted and creative child who loved art, amusement parks, and creating digital worlds on platforms like Minecraft and Roblox, died by suicide in February 2025, just before her 16th birthday.
A Troubling Transformation
Sokolowski described watching his daughter's personality change over the last years of her life. Her performance and interest in school declined, and she began self-harming, including cutting her legs. He later learned that Penelope had been groomed by someone linked to 764, a group that the RCMP says targets children and youth via social media and online gaming.
Grooming on Roblox
Sokolowski believes the grooming culminated on Roblox, a game platform popular among children, with 170,000 users under the age of 13 according to 2023 company data. He told the New York Post that Penelope was manipulated into harming herself and encouraged to abuse family pets. A 764 member sent him a video of Penelope trying to kill their cat. She also sent a predator a photo of her chest, offering to cut herself there, and later sent an image of the predator's Discord username written on her chest in bloodied letters. In other images, the numbers “764” were carved into her body.
Escalation to Suicide
The horrors escalated into repeated suicide attempts performed for an online audience. Sokolowski, who works in the film industry in Vancouver, separated from Penelope's mother when she was 13. He noted that his ex-wife had a parenting app tracking their daughter's online activity, but he still missed the signs.
Cybersecurity Expert Weighs In
Sokolowski documented his journey on TikTok, including a discussion with Idaho-based cybersecurity expert Ben Gillenwater, known as Family IT Guy. Gillenwater introduced the conversation by saying, “If you have kids with internet access, you need to hear this.” Sokolowski confessed not fully understanding what was happening online: “I literally witnessed the grooming process a couple times and I didn't see it for what it was … I didn't realize there was this kind of monster seeping insidious into our lives that was in the room with me when I was talking to my kid.”
He pointed to social media's addictive nature, where predators “are not even seen. And the grooming, most parents won't even recognize it for what it is. Until they hear my story and other stories like it.” Sokolowski hopes his story will help other parents recognize the dangers and protect their children from similar fates.
