Parents are being warned of are being warned of a worrying ‘game’ on social media which has been linked to the death of more than 100 children in Russia.
The ‘Blue Whale’ reportedly targets players between 10 and 14 year old, pushing them into completing a list of pained daily tasks such as waking up in the middle of the night, cutting shapes into their skin or contemplating death.
As the game progresses over several week, participants reach a final task – committing suicide.
The game that has been spreading online among teens has led to warnings from police across Europe and Russia, Central Asia and North and South America.
Concerns were further realised when an 18-year-old Ukranian girl threw herself off a bridge onto a rail line in Portugal earlier in April.
She remarkably survived the fall, suffering a broken leg.
“For the last 10 days, the player needs to wake up at an appointed early morning hour, listen to music, and contemplate death,” cybercrime expert Robert Muggah told Bloomberg news.
“Those who get cold feet and want to leave the game receive threats, often that their parents will be killed.”
“The practice of suicide has migrated online, and younger people may be acting alone or as part of a wider collective.”
Parents are being urged to watch for warning signs within vulnerable children and teens.
Online challenges that dare or cajole teens into risky behaviour — from the cinnamon and duct-tape challenges to the oft-deadly choking game — are nothing new.
That includes reports of suicide, such as the 11-year-old boy who recently killed himself after learning through text messages of the suicide of his 13-year-old girlfriend — which turned out to be a cruel social media prank.
In 2008, an alleged Internet “cult” led to the suicides of seven teenage friends in a small UK town.