MOMO Challenge: After Kolkata, Odisha¡¯s Crime Branch Issues Advisory Against Deadly Game

Video games are turning out to be a technological haphazard for today¡¯s generation. Shortly, after the World Health Organization classified ¡®gaming disorder¡¯ as a mental illness, there has been a need to make children and teenagers aware of the grave consequences of these deadly games.

Visuals tend to have a stronger impact on the viewers than text or any other form of medium. Getting addicted to a video medium has many psychological effects on the viewer as well. Just recently, the Blue Whale game had claimed many lives in India and around the world. The Blue Whale challenge had first come to light in a Russian newspaper where a journalist talked about alleged death groups where teenagers are instigated to commit suicide as the final step.

When we had just thought that the Blue Whale challenge had subsided, a new MOMO challenge came as a bolt from the blue. The challenge originated in Argentina where a 12-year-old girl filmed all the tasks before committing suicide.

Momo is real you guys ?? #MomoChallenge pic.twitter.com/sZeY5SJndS

¡ª Rashi ? (@Rkholic_Rashii) August 28, 2018

Momo is a social media account on WhatsApp, Facebook, and YouTube, which is using the image of a horror artwork called Mother Bird by Link Factory to induce curiosity among children, challenging them to communicate with an unknown number, The Sun reported.

The creepy account appears to be connected to three numbers in Japan, Mexico, and Columbia. If a user refuses to follow the game's orders, Momo threatens them with violent images, reported news agency ANI.

Authorities in West Bengal, India have ordered police and schools to keep an eye on students, amid reports that 2 kids killed themselves because of the Momo Challenge https://t.co/Ppp9w86dbW pic.twitter.com/2t0Zd5GdLs

¡ª Astro Radio News (@AstroRadioNews) August 27, 2018

Reportedly, two deaths in West Bengal are being linked to the new spooky ¡®Momo challenge¡¯ game. In Jalpaiguri, the police received a complaint that a woman had received an invitation to play the MOMO challenge after she expressed interest in committing suicide.

The Indian Express reported cybercrime experts said clicking the game link or downloading the file activates a spyware through which the perpetrators take control over the phone, photos, audio recordings and MMSes to blackmail their victims.

Odisha Issues Advisory Against The Deadly Game

The 'Momo Challenge' Advisory. pic.twitter.com/NerszvO7Xj

¡ª Kolkata Police (@KolkataPolice) August 28, 2018

After the Kolkata police issued a MOMO Challenge advisory, Odisha Police¡¯s crime branch has also issued an advisory against the challenge asking parents and teachers to protect children from the game, which "instigates people, especially children to commit suicide as a final task.", reported news agency ANI.

"On social media a game with name MOMO Challenge is being circulated by some mischievous and criminal minded people. This game instigates people, especially children to commit suicide as final task. Some innocent people around the world have fallen prey to this malicious game. There is a need for parents and teachers to be aware of this threat and save the children from the deadly game," the advisory read.

The advisory even informed that the perpetrators of this game check social media profiles and target people who are psychologically vulnerable. One unknown number having the profile of a girl's distorted face with protruding eyes and wide mouth appears with a WhatsApp invitation from an unknown number.

Photo: Instagram/xperience1282

The advisory also asked media not to publish any "unverified news and connect any death/suicides to MOMO challenge without proper verification".

Social media has made the world globally connected but due to lack of censorship, the data that is published on these portals go unfiltered. Anybody can write, post, film anything and put it on social media that can widely influence the masses at the click of a button. A stringent monitoring of teenager¡¯s activities is thus, needed in order to ensure they do not fall prey to false ideas. Depression, suicide has often been implicitly linked to social media and video games as they can psychologically aggravate a person¡¯s already vulnerable mental state.