MEDICINE HAT, AB — Parents in Medicine Hat are concerned after a disturbing challenge has started circulating.
The Momo challenge involves messages being hidden in kid-friendly videos and games, often directing children to harm themselves. It then threatens them or their family if the instructions aren’t followed.
The challenge directs children to contact ‘Momo’ through Snapchat, Whatsapp or other messaging systems. Once a message is sent, harmful instructions follow.
The accounts feature a horrific image of a doll with large eyes, black hair and a wide mouth.
The images have been seen on Youtube Kids, prompting many local parents to disable the app.
“There’s a lot of outcry on social media,” says Sgt. Mike Fisher with the Medicine Hat Police Service. “Unfortunately this is exactly what the hackers are hoping for is that people are going to share this. This was big overseas and now it’s here in North America and they’re hoping we’re going to react this way and quite frankly we’re fuelling the fire.”
Sergeant Fisher says it’s important to realize the challenge is run by hackers, and that they’re typically after personal information.
“These things aren’t games, they’re created by hackers,” says Fisher. “There’s a root cause there, whether they’re trying to get you to commit some kind of self harm or gain some personal information from you, there’s always some benefit to them.”
He says it’s important to monitor your kids internet use, because things can slip through the cracks.
“Part of the message is to make sure parents understand what their kids are looking at and what they’re viewing, limit their time, put parental controls on,” says Fisher. “We want to make sure that people understand that this isn’t a game and that at the other end of that computer is a hacker who’s after some kind of information or end game.”
He says it’s important to have a conversation with your children to make sure they’re not engaging with the challenge.
“This is completely avoidable. Do not open, do not invite as contacts, ignore it. It’s not different from any other site or message that you would not know and open it, and once you open it you’re inviting trolling.”
There have been no confirmed deaths or injuries related to the Momo challenge.
