KOLKATA: With the 'Momo challenge' sparking curiosity among teens across West Bengal, the police have urged youngsters not to play the game or even reply to messages from numbers asking them to play the online game.
"Anyone can send such texts. These can be fake, and anyone can create them. However, I would not say that all such messages are fake. These numbers originating in foreign countries are hard to trace, but there is no need to panic. Parents have to monitor their children's internet activities and awareness campaigns have to be undertaken at schools. If anyone receives 'Momo Challenge', inform us. Do not reply or play the game," CID DIG (operations) Nishat Pervez said at a press conference.
The online game is blamed for two deaths in Kurseong. Several youngsters have received 'Momo challenge' across several north and south Bengal districts.
"Both the deaths of Manish Sarki and Aditi Goyal of Kurseong are being investigated. While we are not completely denying links of the suicides with 'Momo challenge', we have not yet found any link of the suicides with the game," Pervez added.
He added that the senders hack the cellphones of the ‘players’ and blackmail them.
Players of the 'Momo challenge' are communicated through WhatsApp. They are given violent challenges failing which they are sent horror images, gruesome videos and psychotic audio and blackmail them by hacking into their personal data.
The 'Momo' account uses the 'Mother Bird' sculpture by Japanese artist Midori Hayashi, who has ruled out any link with the online game. It came into news after a 12-year-old girl committed suicide in Argentina. The girl filmed her activities prior to hanging herself, reported the Buenos Aires Times.