Ninro Ruiz Peña
COLOMBIA.- The sick challenge game ‘Momo’ that continues to sweep across South America, Asia, Mexico, France, Germany and the United States, has claimed the lives of two more children. According to press reports and RNC Radio, a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl living in Barbosa committed suicide after playing a challenge-based game believed to be the ‘Momo’ challenge on the internet.
CBN News reported that the “Momo Challenge” encourages people to text a random number on the free messaging app called “WhatsApp.” A creepy bird woman responds and asks the user to complete a series of challenges. more and more intense. If they don’t complete the challenges, the number threatens to leak your personal information to friends, family, and strangers.
Both the teenager and the girl died within two days. According to reports, the boy knew the girl and sent her the game before committing suicide. It was later discovered that the girl hanged herself. According to Fox News, local authorities checked the children’s phones and they found text messages linking them to the suicide game.
“Apparently, they played this game through WhatsApp and invited young people to hurt themselves,” government secretary Janier Landono told Fox News. “The game has different challenges and suicide is at the end.”
The deaths of children are the first linked to gambling in Colombia. The game is believed to have started on a Facebook group page. Meanwhile, police in Argentina are also investigating whether the death of a 12-year-old girl in Escobar last month is also linked to the ‘Momo’ game.
Last week, an 18-year-old boy in India committed suicide in what police suspect is related to online gambling. The Khaleej Times reports that the boy’s body was found hanging in a shed near his home in Kurseong with the words ‘Illuminati’, ‘Hanged’ and ‘Devil’s Eye’, written on a wall The graffiti has raised suspicions that the boy had played the game.
«I saw Hanged Man, the drawing painted by Manish, on the Momo app. The game is responsible for his suicide,” Arjun Ghatani, Sarki’s cousin, and a student, told the Hindustan Times.
«My son was sincere, hardworking and innocent. He used to play online games. I strongly believe that the Momo Challenge took him away from us,” Chandra Maya Sarki, the victim’s mother, told The Khaleej Times.
Law enforcement officials are still trying to track down who is behind the challenge.
CBN News tech expert Caleb Kinchlow advises parents to use the challenge as a conversation starter to warn their kids about the dangers of social media.
“Use information like this, challenges like this, whether they’re as benign as the ice bucket challenge or more sinister like the pod challenge, as a starting point to start a conversation,” he said. Don’t assume your child knows what to do. Let’s talk about this and say ‘Hey, these are the challenges out there. This is what you should or shouldn’t do.”
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