Educational tool only. All groups exist on a spectrum of control. Individual experiences vary. Based on publicly available reports, ex-member accounts, court records, and expert analyses — not medical or legal advice.
46 group profiles for organisations whose documented founding falls in the 2000s. Sorted by CLCI score, descending.
Boko Haram (officially Jama'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihad, 'Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad') is a Salafi-jihadist terror organisation founded in 2002 in Maiduguri, Nigeria by Mohammed Yusuf. The popular name 'Boko Haram' translates as 'Western education is forbidden'. Mohammed Yusuf was killed in police custody in 2009; Abubakar Shekau took leadership and turned the organisation toward terrorism, producing an estimated 40,000+ deaths and 2 million displaced 2009–2024 across Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. April 2014 Chibok mass-kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls is the highest-profile incident. The 2016 splinter ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province) and Shekau's 2021 suicide produced organisational fragmentation; both factions continue operations.
Umbrella entry for Kenyan Christian doomsday cults; the centrepiece is Paul Mackenzie's Good News International Ministry, whose 2023 Shakahola Forest fast-to-death produced at least 429 confirmed exhumed bodies — the largest cult mass-death event in modern African history and one of the deadliest globally since Jonestown (1978).
Korean apocalyptic Christian sect founded 2003 by Shin Ok-ju (born 1962) in South Korea, with subsequent global expansion. From 2014 Shin and approximately 400 followers relocated to rural Fiji on the basis of a 'flood prophecy' that South Korea would be inundated. Documented forced labour at Fijian agricultural and industrial sites, beatings of disobedient members, and exit prevention via passport confiscation. Shin extradited from Fiji to South Korea 2018; convicted October 2019 of multiple offences including child abuse and false imprisonment (6-year sentence; extended on appeal).
Online new-age movement led by Amy Carlson ('Mother God'), who claimed to be the reincarnation of multiple historical and pop-cultural figures. Carlson died in 2021; members continued to display her mummified body. Subject of HBO's 'Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God' (2023).
Indian self-styled guru Rampal Singh Jatin (born 1951) — a former irrigation department engineer who left government service in 1995 to preach an idiosyncratic interpretation of Kabir Panth and Sant Mat — convicted of two murders for the November 2014 Satlok Ashram siege deaths. Six followers (five women, one infant) died inside the Barwala compound during the standoff; Rampal received concurrent life-imprisonment sentences in 2017 and 2018. Organisation continues to publish his discourses and operate satellite centres under his sons.
Sexuality-and-personal-growth company founded by Nicole Daedone (San Francisco, 2004) built around 'Orgasmic Meditation' (OM) — a 15-minute clitoral-stroking practice taught in $7k–$60k course packages. Federal forced-labor and prostitution charges 2023+; June 2024 conviction of Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz on conspiracy to commit forced labor.
Direct successor organisation to Aum Shinrikyo. Renamed Aleph in 2000. Under continuous Japanese Public Security Intelligence Agency surveillance. Continues to retain ≈1,500 members despite legal restrictions.
Sean Feucht (b. 1983) is a Bethel Church Redding-derived worship leader who built a national cult-of-personality through Burn 24-7 (2003+, the original 'house of prayer' worship-tour ministry), the 2020 Let Us Worship arena tour (an explicit defiance of COVID-era public-health rules), and the ongoing Light a Candle global tour. The 2023 ProPublica investigation revealed undisclosed real-estate purchases by Feucht's family through the Burn 24-7 nonprofit. Attended January 6 2021 Capitol events; ran in the 2022 California gubernatorial primary; ongoing Christian-nationalist political organising via the Hold the Line PAC.
Russian white-supremacist paramilitary organisation. Designated Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US State Department in 2020. Trains foreign neo-Nazis at Partizan camp.
Online spiritual-influencer and self-help community led by Teal Swan (born Mary Teal Bosworth, 1984) and her business Teal Eye LLC. Operates the 'Teal Tribe' Facebook community (hundreds of thousands of members), the Philia Centre retreat facility, intensive 'completion process' workshops, and a YouTube channel with 1+ million subscribers. 2018-2019 investigative coverage by *Vice* documentary *The Gateway* and *New York Times Magazine* documented manipulation tactics and at least two follower suicides linked to Swan's work.
Falun Gong-aligned media empire including Epoch Times, NTD, Shen Yun, and The Dissident. Documented misinformation and political-partisan campaigning.
Aum Shinrikyo splinter group founded by Fumihiro Joyu in May 2007 after he led a faction breakaway from Aleph (the renamed parent organisation). Joyu — Aum's media spokesperson during the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack period and Asahara's designated successor in the late 1990s — explicitly renounced Asahara veneration in 2007 and reframed Aum's doctrine in deliberately moderated terms. Approximately 200 members across Japan as of 2024; remains under ongoing Public Security Intelligence Agency (PSIA) monitoring under Japan's 1999 Group Regulation Law along with Aleph and Aleph successor 'Circle of Rainbow Light'.
Southlake, Texas-based multi-site evangelical megachurch founded 2000 by Robert Morris. Approximately 100,000 weekly attendees pre-2024. Morris resigned 18 June 2024 after Cindy Clemishire publicly disclosed that Morris had sexually abused her starting at age 12 in 1982 while he was a 21-year-old itinerant evangelist staying at her family's home. The church's elder board had been informed of the abuse decades earlier and had not removed Morris from ministry.
Burmese Theravada-Buddhist nationalist movement built around the 969 Movement (2001+) and the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion (Ma Ba Tha, founded 2013) and identified primarily with the monk U Wirathu (b. 1968). UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (2018) documented Wirathu's rhetoric as a material contributor to the environment that produced the 2017 genocide of the Rohingya Muslim population. Distinct from mainstream Burmese Theravada and Sri Lankan Theravada traditions, with which it shares no doctrinal authority.
Umbrella entry covering the documented high-control variants of the Mexican Santa Muerte folk-religious cult — specific templos and lineages where transactional coercive-magic obligations, severance from family, and adjacency to organised criminal networks have been documented. Distinct from the broader low-control Santa Muerte folk-veneration phenomenon (~10–12 million casual devotees) which is mainstream Mexican syncretic Catholicism.
Decentralised American militia network founded 2008 by Mike Vanderboegh. Multiple chapters and members convicted in January 6 2021 prosecutions. Some state chapters formally classified as hate groups.
Birmingham, Alabama-based multi-site evangelical megachurch founded 2001 by Chris Hodges. Approximately 60,000 weekly attendees across 23 campuses. Flagship of the Association of Related Churches (ARC) — a 1,000+-church franchise network co-founded by Hodges with documented authoritarian governance critique. 2020 racial-insensitivity controversy (Hodges' social-media likes of Charlie Kirk content) preceded deeper reporting on ARC's pastoral-accountability structures.
American anti-government militia founded by former Yale Law School graduate Stewart Rhodes (2009). Recruitment focuses on current and former military, law enforcement, and first-responders around an oath-rejection framework: members pledge to refuse what they characterise as unconstitutional orders. Rhodes and three lieutenants were convicted of seditious conspiracy in 2022–2023 for the January 6 2021 Capitol attack — the highest-profile US seditious-conspiracy conviction since the 1995 Oklahoma City militia trials. Trump's January 2025 commutation of all January 6 sentences released Rhodes from his 18-year sentence after roughly two years served.
Extreme raw-food and fruitarian online communities including the 30 Bananas A Day forum, the 80/10/10 community around Dr Douglas Graham, the Freelee the Banana Girl and Durianrider parasocial-influencer communities, and various smaller offshoots. Multiple documented child-malnutrition deaths and adult eating-disorder patterns. Documented in *The Atlantic*, *Marie Claire*, ABC News (Australia), and *Vegan Recovery* journalism 2010-2024.
Scottsdale-based weight-loss MLM (founded 2008, current corporate structure 2011) selling 'Plexus Slim' (the 'Pink Drink') and supplement bundles. ~500k 'Ambassadors' at peak; FDA 2014 warning letter on disease-treatment claims; FTC inquiries into income claims. Documented 'Pink Drink' parasocial influencer culture across Mormon-network and Southern Baptist communities.
Arizona-based cleanse-and-weight-loss MLM founded by John Anderson and Jim Coover (2002). Distinctive '30-day cleanse' protocol bundling shake meal-replacements, fasting, and supplement schedules at $400+/month. ~300k associates at 2018 peak; Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed June 2024. High-control internal sales culture documented across multiple ex-member podcasts and r/antiMLM coverage.
Florida-based MLM (founded 2001) best known for 'Crazy Wrap Thing' body-contouring wraps and the 'Skinny Pack' supplement bundle. ~100k 'Distributors' at 2018 peak; FDA 2012 warning letter on wrap disease claims; state attorney-general inquiries for income misrepresentation; characteristic Southern-evangelical coach culture documented across multiple ex-member accounts.
North Carolina-based evangelical megachurch led by Steven Furtick. Substantial criticism over financial extravagance, 'spontaneous' choreographed baptisms, and senior-pastor unilateral authority.
South Carolina-based evangelical megachurch. Founder Perry Noble fired 2016 for alcohol abuse and conduct issues; church continues with reformed governance.
Online neoreactionary ('NRx', 'Dark Enlightenment') movement crystallised by Curtis Yarvin (Mencius Moldbug) and Nick Land (2007+). Substantial influence on Silicon Valley far-right.
Umbrella entry for the diverse set of Western-facing ayahuasca retreat facilitator circles (often Peru, Costa Rica, USA) that exhibit high-control patterns. Distinct from the established Brazilian Santo Daime / UDV churches.
Online pickup-artist (PUA) parasocial communities (RSDNation, etc.). Documented misogyny patterns; overlap with manosphere extreme figures.
Indian 'godwoman' Sukhvinder Kaur (b. 1965). Multiple documented legal cases including 2015 dowry-harassment and 2017 obscenity cases over distinctive dancing on stage.
Essential-oil MLM founded 2008 in Pleasant Grove, Utah by former Young Living executives David Stirling, Emily Wright and Gregg Cook. ≈6 million lifetime Wellness Advocates. FDA-warned for COVID and disease claims; FTC repeatedly cited income disclosures showing the vast majority of distributors earning under $1,000/year.
Umbrella entry for the smaller documented high-control variants of Bolivian and Peruvian Andean curanderismo — specific living-yatiri (Aymara) and paqo (Quechua) figures whose lineages have produced documented financial-extraction, severance, and unsafe psychedelic practice (mishandled ayahuasca, San Pedro / huachuma). Distinct from mainstream low-control Andean indigenous religious tradition.
Joe Dispenza's meditation/neuroscience workshops and retreats. Substantial multi-thousand-dollar event fees; parasocial community dynamics.
American Marxist-Leninist party (2004 split from WWP). Documented cadre-discipline patterns and substantial member commitment.
Major online personal-growth platform founded by Vishen Lakhiani. Most courses are mainstream consumption; specific high-control sub-communities around individual instructors (transformation coaches) have been documented.
Umbrella for documented CrossFit-adjacent extreme-fitness cult communities. Mainstream CrossFit affiliates are low-control; specific high-pressure boxes exhibit moderate cult dynamics.
Mainstream Effective Altruism movement (2009+, William MacAskill, Toby Ord). Substantial controversy after the 2022 Sam Bankman-Fried / FTX collapse exposed EA-aligned governance failures.
Rationalist community around Eliezer Yudkowsky's LessWrong (2009+) and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute. Documented sub-community concerns including the 2022–2025 Ziz cult-of-personality murders.
Texas-based Reformed evangelical network led by Matt Chandler. Subject of 2015 Karen Hinkley church-discipline controversy that drew international press attention.
Wim Hof's cold-exposure and breathing practice has a global mainstream following. Specific extreme franchise instructor sub-communities have produced ex-participant accounts of cult-like dynamics including physical harm.
Conservative Anglican alliance (founded 2008) of provinces opposing LGBT+ inclusion. Substantial Global South membership including Nigerian Anglican Church.
Home-fragrance wax-warmer MLM (founded 2004). Standard MLM patterns; less aggressive than Amway / Herbalife.
Skincare MLM founded by Proactiv creators Katie Rodan and Kathy Fields (2008). Multiple US class actions over Lash Boost vision-loss claims.
Fitness MLM (P90X, Insanity, Shakeology). Transitioned away from MLM structure in 2024 after years of declining performance.
Mainstream peer-support community for ex-LDS Mormons. Reddit r/exmormon (1+ million members), Mormon Stories podcast, multiple support orgs.
Umbrella for broader religious-exit online support communities (r/exjw, r/exmuslim, r/exchristian, r/exscientology, etc.).
Secular parody religion founded by Bobby Henderson (2005) in protest against Kansas Board of Education intelligent-design teaching. Among the lowest-control religious-derived traditions.
Cross-reference — see Footsteps in primary recovery resources.