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- Wolves in sheep's clothing: in Sweden, criminals recruit children through gaming platforms
Wolves in sheep's clothing: in Sweden, criminals recruit children through gaming platforms
Swedish police have revealed a new method of recruiting minors by the criminal world. Representatives of the criminal community buy up groups on social networks designed to discuss video games, football matches and other harmless hobbies. This gives gangs instant access to hundreds and thousands of children and teenagers. The recruitment process from the first contact to the commission of a crime can take days. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
It's not just dangerous on the street anymore
Over the past few years, Sweden has experienced an alarming increase in the number of violations of the law committed by children and adolescents. In 2025, 318 teenagers in this country found themselves suspected of committing various types of criminal offenses in the criminal environment. Last year, 352 cases of preparation for murder or explosion involving minors were also initiated. The total number of children and adolescents brought to justice in these cases was 276: 218 aged 15-17 years and 58 under the age of 15.
A total of 242 teenagers were caught red-handed in the country last year (70 of them under the age of 15), 153 in 2024, 118 in 2023. The number of suspects of violent crimes aged 13-14 tripled in 2025 from 31 to 93 people. Already in 2026, the police reported that the number of suspects aged 13-14 in the organized crime environment has tripled over the past two years. In general, if two years ago the average age of perpetrators of serious violent crimes was 20-25 years, now it has decreased to 15-17.
Such frightening statistics have prompted law enforcement agencies to study even more deeply how minors are involved in such terrible cases. In mid-July, the Swedish police officially warned that traditional methods of recruiting teenagers on the streets are increasingly giving way to digital methods. Gaming platforms, social networks, and messengers have become a new "hunting ground" for members of criminal networks. At the same time, criminals are "hoarding" not only young residents of disadvantaged neighborhoods of megacities — children from families of any social status in any corner of the country are not immune from recruitment. Moreover, they are recruited, among other things, to commit serious crimes — contract killings and bombings in the streets.
According to Swedish police operative Theodor Smedius, criminal syndicates are buying groups already existing on social networks with hundreds and thousands of subscribers. These can be, for example, communities for discussing video games, movies, or sports, often even with paid access. In this way, the bandits get a ready audience — children who already trust the administrators and other members of the group. This is much more convenient than creating virtual communities from scratch and attracting attention to them.
Gang recruiters pose as teenagers of the same age and start communicating with them through game chats or comments. Criminals ingratiate themselves with them, become "friends". This is how they establish contact with children of any age. Moreover, the bandits are operating, especially without even hiding. Prosecutor Lisa Dos Santos notes: "It's not like before, when they used encrypted phones on a closed network. Now you can get a job with the gang via messenger." The process of turning a child into an instrument of crime follows a well—established pattern - and the police describe it as very fast.
Violence as a service
After establishing a trusting atmosphere, criminals transfer communication with children from a game or an open group to encrypted messengers. This is done in order to hide the correspondence from the parents of teenagers and the police. The child is offered to "raise easy money" — first by completing simple tasks, and then more and more serious ones. Recruiters use "gamification" tactics: They present criminal tasks as a game, a challenge, or a test of courage. This blurs the line between the virtual and the real world for the child. It may take very little time from the first contact to the commission of a serious crime.
Recruitment is carried out by people who perfectly understand child psychology. Children may be offered money or gifts: items of clothing, watches, jewelry, or expensive mobile phones. But this technique is not always used, because often in the eyes of teenagers suffering from loneliness and restlessness, there are things more serious than material benefits — status, respect and a sense of belonging to something "cool". Bandits love to romanticize their lifestyle by making it look attractive and glamorous. They tell naive children, "If you become a member of our gang, everyone will respect and fear you. As for money, girls, and expensive cars, that goes without saying."
As a rule, the first assignments in the eyes of a child look relatively harmless: to stand "on the lookout", to give the right person any small items, money or packages. Such "simple" tasks reduce vigilance — and in the meantime, the stakes are gradually rising. Successful completion of assignments creates in the child a sense of belonging to the gang, which criminals then use.: "You're already ours, a family member." But, as a rule, the "carrot" is quickly replaced by the "stick". If a child makes an attempt to get out of the "game", recruiters turn to threats and blackmail.
He is being threatened with violence, not only against himself, but also against his relatives. They try to entangle the child with debts, which, according to the villains, he must "work off." Thus, it turns into a working "tool" that can be used within the framework of the "violence-as-a-service" scheme common in Scandinavia. Its essence lies in the fact that the customer places an application in the necessary messenger for a particular criminal act — murder, theft, organization of an explosion, etc. — and transfers a certain amount to the gang's account as payment. The bandits hand the child a weapon or explosives and send him on a mission.
Children and teenagers become ideal performers because they are more difficult to suspect, and because of their age they do not bear full criminal responsibility. At the same time, the perpetrators of criminal orders are getting younger. Until recently, the Swedish public was horrified by the arrest of the first 12-year-old killer, and there is already a known case of recruitment of eight-year-olds. It was in April 2026 in the municipality of Huddinge, south of Stockholm. Four eight-year-old boys who were playing soccer at the stadium were approached by a group of teenagers about 15 years old, who had already been recruited by bandits.
The teenagers tried to ingratiate themselves with the children, find out their names and places of residence, gave them change, and began promising them expensive gifts if they agreed to meet again. At the same time, young recruiters filmed children on video. Fortunately, they then told their parents about the incident, and the adults immediately contacted the police. Huddinge police have stepped up patrols in the area and have arranged with the stadium owners to brief visitors. Law enforcement officers warned that with the arrival of heat, such recruitment attempts on sports grounds, in schools and parks may become more frequent. According to them, children who are left without adult supervision are most at risk.
15-year-old girls as hired killers
Of particular concern is the fact that teenage girls are increasingly involved as killers in Swedish gang wars. As of 2025, about 280 girls aged 15-17 have been charged with various crimes, including eight people for murder. And this process is expanding. In March 2026, the police arrested a 15-year-old girl who had recently committed two murders — in Stockholm and in Malmo. On March 23, she shot and killed a 17-year-old boy at the Worby Park soccer field in Hudding. Two days later, in Malmo, in the Rosengård residential area there, she shot dead a 15-year-old boy. This time she did not manage to leave — she was detained a few minutes after the deed.
When the police began investigating these two crimes, it immediately became clear that the underage murderer had no criminal record: she did not appear in any police databases and generally gave the impression of a polite and well-mannered child. After examining the correspondence on her phone, investigators determined that both murders were committed by order of the largest criminal network in Sweden, Foxtrot. This gang was founded by a native of Iraq named Rava Majid (aka the "Kurdish Fox"). She actively fights with competitors and practices their regular shooting. Chats with detailed instructions were found on the detainee's phone, where she was told from whom to get a weapon, when and where to commit a crime.
Last fall, Stockholm prosecutor Ida Arnell told the press about another shocking example of this kind — about a 15-year-old Swedish citizen who was hired "on a case" in neighboring Denmark. Moreover, she was even given a choice of the severity of the upcoming criminal act: either to frighten a person by shooting through the doors of his apartment when he was at home, or to kill him immediately. The customer was satisfied with both options, but he was willing to pay more for the murder. The girl chose to kill. She went on a mission accompanied by an "assistant", a 17-year-old guy. The services of an "assistant" were needed when the girl did not find the determination to pull the trigger, and then he opened fire. The victim survived, although he received critical wounds: bullets hit his neck, stomach and legs.
The Swedish government and police are taking emergency measures. On July 15, 2026, a new law came into force allowing police to require owners of social platforms to shut down groups where criminals recruit children. On the other hand, the parliamentary majority has not approved the draft law prepared by the Cabinet of Ministers, lowering the age of criminal responsibility from the current 15 to 13 years. On June 11, just four days before the vote, the Government withdrew the bill because the ruling coalition was unable to gain enough support in Parliament to take such a drastic measure.
Natalia Eremina, Doctor of Political Sciences, professor at St. Petersburg State University, in an interview with Izvestia, recalled that among the organizers of criminal networks in Sweden there are also people from terrorist organizations in the Middle East.
— They enter the European Union under the guise of refugees and feel great there. These people don't work, they're on welfare, and they continue to do what they did in their previous lives, forming criminal cells that then form networks. Very often, these criminals continue to carry out the strategic tasks of those terrorist groups of which they are still followers. Terrorists are used to using children as suicide bombers; now in Sweden they use them for criminal purposes, meaning this is a continuation of the traditional practice. The Swedes, like many other EU countries, have been allowing anyone to live with them for many years. And now it will be very difficult to uproot the criminal mycelium that has taken root in them," warns Eremina.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
