A MUM has issued a warning about a disturbing online game encouraging children to hurt themselves.

The Momo Challenge, described as a WhatsApp “suicide challenge”, features an avatar of a creepy looking woman with bulging eyes, stringy black hair and a devilish grin, telling young people to harm themselves.

This week, a concerned mum from Westhoughton took to social media to warn other parents about the game.

The mum, who asked to remain anonymous, said she was “deeply alarmed” after being told by a teacher that her someone at the school  had made children cry by telling them “Momo was going to go into their room at night and kill them”.

In the post, published on the ‘Love Westhoughton’ Facebook page, she said: “When I collected him from school the teacher asked to talk to me. 

“When we got home I spoke to him about this and he told me that some kids at school had told him to look at the Momo Challenge, which he did.

She added: “When ***** watched a video the Momo character told him to tell everyone to fear Momo or it will kill him in his sleep.

“So I have one very frightened little boy and some deep concerns about the kids in his school.

“Parent controls are as tight as could be and this s*** still slips through.

“So if you have a child it would be well worth it to open up a dialogue about idiots online and try to get ahead of this.”

The game requires young people to add a contact on WhatsApp before the doll-like character hounds them with violent images and escalating dares, the last of which demands they kill themselves.

It is rumoured to have been linked to the deaths of youngsters in Colombia, Argentina and India in recent years.

Momo was created by Japanese special effects company Link Factory. 

The design first featured at Tokyo’s horror art Vanilla Gallery under the name Mother Bird.

It is not the first time that concerns have been expressed about the dangers surrounding online games. 

In June, 2018, a coroner overseeing the inquest of Radcliffe teenager Ben Walmsley issued a warning about online psychological horror game Doki Doki Literature Club.

Concerns were raised about the game triggering suicidal thoughts in young people who may be emotionally vulnerable.

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