Odisha Police has issued an advisory to parents and teachers to guard children against the deadly ‘Momo Challenge’ game.
The crime branch advisory issued on Saturday night has also urged the media not to publish any unverified news and connect any death or suicide to the game without proper verification, a senior police official said on Sunday.
The ‘Momo Game’ is said to be a successor of the notorious ‘Blue Whale Game’ and has made headway in several countries.
“On social media, a game with the 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 game,” the advisory said.
Read | Engineering student commits suicide, was playing ‘Momo Challenge’
“There is need for parents and teachers to be aware of this threat and save children from it. Unknown links appearing on WhatsApp should be deleted immediately,” it added.
Asking parents to keep a close watch on the behaviour of children, the advisory said they should monitor the child’s online and social media activity, and if need be, install a cyber or mobile parenting software.
Last week, the West Bengal CID had downplayed the growing Momo Challenge scare in the state, saying most of the messages received by people inviting them to play the alleged killer game appear to be fake, and that there is no reason to connect the recently reported suicide cases to it.
Earlier, Mumbai police had also cautioned people against the Momo challenge.
Issuing a warning against the challenge, the Mumbai Police had posted a picture of a plate full of momos on Twitter with one of them having an eerie doll face, which represents the momo challenge.
Read | Momo scare: Some people spreading fake messages to create panic, says CID
They wrote, How about interacting with us on the widely know #Dial100 than on unknown numbers, to beat the challengers in their own game!
What is Momo challenge?
A new horrifying internet challenge which is proving to be deadly for children and teens has per reports on the internet. The challenge reportedly started on facebook and it asks people to chat with strangers via an unknown number on Whatsapp. The user then is told to perform a series of extreme and dangerous tasks that are allegedly violent and may end up in suicides. They are also exposed to the threat of their online accounts being hacked.
Many believe it is a bait used by the criminals in order to steal data and extort people on the internet.