Europol's GRIMM task force has arrested nearly 200 people accused of operating or participating in "violence-as-a-service" schemes, where cybercrime groups recruit young people online for real-world attacks. 
"These individuals are trained or coerced to commit a range of violent crimes, from acts of intimidation and torture to murder," European police said on Monday.
The GRIMM team was launched in April and includes researchers from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, as well as Europol experts and online service providers.
During the first six months, police involved in this operation arrested 63 people directly involved in committing or planning violent crimes, 40 “enablers” accused of facilitating violent services for pay, 84 recruiters, and six hackers, five of whom officers described as “high-value targets.”
Many of the criminals involved in recruiting and carrying out these violent services for hire are also members of The Com. This is a loosely connected gang, mostly English-speaking, involved in various interconnected networks of hackers, SIM swappers and extortionists.
Their reach had spread across the Atlantic, and over the summer, the FBI warned that a subset of this group, called In Real Life (IRL) Com, was a growing threat to young people.
The FBI security bulletin specifically named IRL Com subgroups that offer swat-for-hide services, in which scammers falsely report gunshots at someone's residence or make bomb threats to trigger mass armed police raids on victims' homes.
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
