Kolkata techie receives Momo Challenge invite

KOLKATA: At least two persons from different parts of the state — one of them from Kolkata and the other from Siliguri — received the invite for Momo Challenge on Whatsapp around 11pm on Thursday. Rajorshi Upadhay, the IT employee from Kolkata, has sought help from Kolkata Police.

Upadhyay received the Whatsapp message when the mobile phone was being charged. Upadhayay, who has a eight-year old kid, said they were worried the child could have got hooked to the game if they had not checked the mobile phone on time.

According to psychiatrists, sending messages at night shows there are sinister plans as the mind is at the weakest at night and especially dangerous for those who are suffering from depression. So when should you raise the alarm as a parent? Psychologists say any abrupt change in behaviour should be enough to trigger an alarm. Sudden willingness to be left alone — shutting doors, speaking to someone over phone or social media and ignoring family members — are some common examples. Cuts and bruises too need to be looked into. “Some of these are absolutely normal behaviour for teens, so you need to be careful how you raise the issue,” pointed out one of them.

The Momo challenge was initially started on Facebook but is now spreading via Whatsapp. ‘Momo’ is a social media account on WhatsApp, Facebook and YouTube. The image used for the Momo game is a haunting image of a woman with exaggerated features taken from the work of Japanese artist Midori Hayashi, who has no connection with the game. Several web security blogs describe the Momo game as a social engineering attack, which may not necessarily be real, but can still cause harm through online harassment and cyber bullying.

The account challenges users to communicate with an unknown number, and complete a series of violent acts that ultimately end in death. If one refuses to follow the game’s orders, he or she is sent threatening and disturbing images. Sometimes the threat given is that of corrupting the social media accounts of the victim and to label fake allegations against him/ her. This account seems to be connected to three numbers in Japan,

Mexico

and Columbia and a number of smaller islands on both sides of Latin America.

“We have asked our cyber cell to put all the numbers from which the invites are being sent on surveillance,” said a senior state official.

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