Daringbadi: Momo Challenge, a form of cyber-bullying spreading over social media networks, has sparked terror in this town of Kandhamal district with a school teacher receiving calls from an unknown number.
Reports said an assistant teacher of Kirikuti panchayat had been getting calls on his phone from a number having the ‘Momo Challenge’ icon.
The worried teacher informed Daringbadi IIC Alekh Garadia on the phone. The police official, as a precautionary measure, asked the teacher to switch off his phone.
The teacher came to the police station Wednesday and showed call details to the IIC who suggested some ideas to avoid such calls.
Police suspect that many others in the area have also received such calls. A sensitisation programme would be conducted in the block on the issue with permission from higher-ups, Garadia said.
It may be recalled that a child from Simanbadi area became a victim of Blue Whale, another deadly cyber game that wreaked havoc across the country last year. He wanted to swim in a water body for a long time. But his family managed to rescue him from the game with great difficulty.
After Blue Whale, Momo Challenge has become a major worry for many with most students using smart phones.
Targeting teenagers, ‘Momo’ relies on WhatsApp messages to make potential ‘players’ use their mobile phone to contact one of the several ‘Momo account’ phone numbers. Whoever has set up the account then repeatedly threatens the user that he would make personal information public, or harm family members, unless a succession of tasks is performed. Some people are threatened with supernatural harm like magical curses. The threats and subsequent communications are often accompanied by disturbing, gory pictures.
There are many instances of hackers taking the lives of teens by luring them into such games, a report said.
Earlier, a 24-year-old youth Umakanta Behera at Umar village near Mahanga in Cuttack district allegedly committed suicide under the influence of the game.
Umakant, who worked as a labourer in Chennai, had returned home a few months ago. He committed suicide by hanging himself. The Momo challenge app was found installed in his phone.
Before that, an engineering student of Rourkela had committed suicide in Chennai and became the first victim of the game from the state.
