BEWARE, "BLUE WHALE"!

We all know how enthusiastically our children love to sit behind gadgets. But do we know what kind of world the child is in?

One of the reasons why it is worth looking into your child's cell phone is "Blue Whale" - a fictional game that leads to suicide! At the moment, it is very actively spreading on the social networks "Vkontakte" and Instagram.

On February 18, 2017, a 15-year-old girl was saved from suicide from the "Blue Whale" group in Kyiv. Her friend was also in the group. In the evening, the girls had to complete the last task - to jump from a high-rise building. Fortunately, they were saved.

How does it happen?

In social networks, special closed groups are created, in which participants - "blue whales" - register. Why "blue whale"? This is the only animal that commits suicide by throwing itself ashore.

After that, a "curator" contacts the teenager. The participant has to complete 50 tasks. The whole process takes about 2 months. Tasks are associated with injuries and danger - prick a finger until it bleeds, hurt yourself, cut a picture on your hand with a blade, run in front of a speeding train, etc. After completing each task, you must provide a photo/video as proof.

Every day you need to wake up at 4:20 am and receive a new task. At this time, the body has not yet come out of sleep and thus, the organizers easily manipulate the child and instill in him thoughts of suicide and, in the end, he performs the last task - suicide. If the child is afraid and refuses, they are given a link (the link is invalid, it shows "404 page not found"), through which the criminals calculate the participant's IP address.

After that, they call the address of his residence and threaten to kill him, his family or friends. The child is given a choice - him or his family. The child's psyche cannot stand such responsibility and decides to take this step.

How to understand that your child is already "in the game"?

1. The teenager does not get enough sleep, even if he goes to bed early - check if he sleeps in the early morning hours.

2. Draws whales, butterflies, unicorns.

3. On social networks, he is in groups that contain the following in the name: "Whales are floating up", "Wake me up at 4.20", f57, f58, "Silent house", "Rina", "Nyapoka", "Sea of whales", "50 days to mine..."

4. Puts hashtags under his photos: # f53, # f57, # f58, # d28, # morekitov, # quiet house, # hochuvigru, # domkitov, # млечныйпуть, # 150звёзд, # ff33, # curatornapish.

5. Vkontakte has blocked access to detailed information, in correspondence with friends (on the personal wall) there are phrases "wake me up at 4.20", "I'm in the game". And it's really scary if numbers starting from 50 and less appear on the wall.

6. Corresponds in Viber (and other messengers) with strangers who give strange orders.

7. Scars, cuts, scratches began to appear on the child's body.

What to do if your child is already "in the game"?

If it turns out that your child is still playing, there is no need to panic and establish total control over him - take away the phone, lock the houses, etc. After all, in the 21st century, a teenager, if he wants, will always find a gadget and access to the network. And the more you limit him, the more he will want to bypass the ban.

Don't control, but support. Now it is more important than ever. Hug him more, tell him that at his age you also made mistakes, got into some dangers, and one of the adults helped you. If you understand that the child does not accept you now, ask him to talk to an adult he trusts - a school psychologist, a relative, etc.

In no case do not scold the child. Show other emotions - cry, show how upset you are and how worried you are for him.

Even if you are sure that everything is fine in your family, excessive vigilance will not hurt. Such games are the case when intrusion into the child's private life is justified. Take care of your children!