Red Owl - a new game that can kill a child in 12 days

Children who have free access to the Internet often become victims of cybercriminals. The perpetrators of the numerous cases of teenage suicide that have occurred during the last 2 years have already been punished, but some bloggers and journalists claim about the emergence of new dangerous games on the net.

Group "Red Owl" - what is it?

It is believed that this name is simply a rebranding of the infamous "Blue Whale" community and its counterparts. "Red Owl" is a group in the VC with open access, which has nothing to do with child suicide or the propaganda of suicides. This community unites fans of table games in Krasnoarmeysk (Russia), actively promotes science and a healthy lifestyle, playing sports.

"Red Owl" - what kind of game, what tasks?

The quest in question is supposedly analogous to the Blue Whale . The game "Red Owl" is gaining popularity, and information about it is increasingly distributed by bloggers . But some experts on cybercrime say that "Red Owl" is a fake quest for hype (hype, hype), attracting subscribers on YouTube channels, social networks and followers in Instagram.

In parallel, it is important to remember that a child on the Internet can become a victim of scammers, pedophiles and other dangerous personalities with a perverted psyche. Criminals also follow new trends among teenagers, use them for their own purposes. Because of the noise raised by irresponsible bloggers around the quest, sociopaths have the opportunity to communicate with the child in the guise of "entertainment." Often, the familiar teenagers pretend to curse over him or curry her among peers.

Rules of the game "Red Owl"

The essence of the quest is simple - the participant must perform tasks for which he will receive some kind of reward. The new game "Red Owl" on the concept is no different from the "Blue Whale". As a prize, children are promised what they most want or order themselves (laptop, smartphone, tablet and other things). Stop playing the game "Red Owl" participants strictly prohibited. Those who wish to stop performing tasks receive threats ("you will be found", "your parents will die" and the like). The final stage of the quest should be suicide, possibly fixed in photographs or video.

«Red Owl» - tasks

The game always begins with an acquaintance with the curator. He is wondering if the child wants to have fun and get a reward. When the teenager agrees, the tasks of the game "Red Owl" are given out. The first stage is not to sleep at night for 12-15 days. As a test of the fulfillment of this condition, the curator writes messages to the child in social networks using the code question: "Does not the owl sleep?" Within 5-7 minutes the participant of the game should send an answer. The correct message is: "The owl never sleeps."

Other possible tasks:

1. Leave a mark. This stage provides for a transition through a special link. After clicking on it, the computer displays an error message. The link is viral, with its help scammers determine the IP address and approximate location of the child (within a radius of several kilometers). This provides a lever of pressure on the participant of the quest - the teenager is easier to intimidate, calling the street on which he lives, and other personal information (home phone number, parent contacts).
2. Watching video, listening to audio files. To fulfill such task the curator always demands at night, alone and in total darkness. The content contains strange, sometimes frightening, images, music is disturbing or psychedelic. Video and audio files do not hypnotize the child, simply because of fatigue against the background of lack of sleep, the brain becomes susceptible to any information. Teenagers can start to have nightmares.
3. Make photos of certain content and send them to the curator. As tasks from the child they are required to injure themselves (cut the veins, cut out a drawing or phrase on the skin) and fix the process or the result on the camera. In other cases, the teenager is asked to make intimate photos. If he refuses, threats are received against the participant of the quest or his relatives.
4. To commit suicide. The final stage of the game "Red Owl" is considered to be suicide, which must also be captured or performed during a live broadcast on the Internet. There are no confirmed cases of child suicides due to the described quest.

How to get into the game "Red Owl"?

In social networks, the content of public pages and groups is monitored, so any communities that promote suicide are immediately blocked. The only way to enter the game "Red Owl" is to be invited into it. The curator contacts the child, and offers him dangerous entertainment. The main motivation for starting the quest is a reward for completing tasks.

How to find the curator of the game "Red Owl"?

While there is no clear evidence of the existence of the "entertainment" in question, so the search for its organizers has not yet been crowned with success. The curators of the Red Owl are mostly criminals trying to obtain content of shocking or intimate content. They can extort it for themselves or sell them in the daknet. Often the curators are the familiar teenagers. Peers, classmates or classmates write from a fake account to mock the child.

How to start playing the game "Red Owl"?

Any suicidal quest is a voluntary "entertainment". If a potential participant initially ignores the invitation and refuses to receive assignments, there will not be games for him. Children themselves are looking for access to the curators of such quests in social networks. The group "Red Owl" in VKontakte has nothing to do with the described situation, and its clones of questionable content are already blocked.

To start the game, the child searches for hashtags or writes them on his or her page on the social network. The most popular ones are # SOVANESPIT, # SOVANIYAGINESPIT, # SOVYNESPYAT. After this, the curator is associated with him, or the teenager himself writes to the organizer. The main reasons for this interest in deadly quests:

• the desire to get a thrill;
• the desire to stand out among peers, to boast of boldness;
• curiosity;
• problems with the psyche, depression , suicidal tendencies.

What is the danger of the game "Red Owl"?

Of course, such "entertainment" as "Red Owl" is a dangerous game. But the main problem is the desire of the child to participate in such games, his willingness to trust an unfamiliar person and carry out tasks, the desire to commit suicide. Not so important is the name of the game, blue, red fox, owl, whale or whatever. The consequences of such quests are always identical:

• blackmailing the child by "draining" his intimate photos into the Internet;
• persecution;
• destruction of the psyche;
• suicide .

"Red Owl" - victims

While there are no officially registered victims due to participation in this quest. The only case in which the "Red Owl" is mentioned is the escape from the house of a 14-year-old girl later found in the city where her grandmother lives. The teenager allegedly followed the curator's instructions. Available on the Internet photo correspondence with the game "Red Owl" - fake, distributed by bloggers for the sake of popularity. The same applies to video chatting with curators in the "online" mode.

Even in the absence of evidence, one can not ignore the danger posed by entertainment such as the game "Red Owl" - death, psychological problems and self-mutilation. Parents should take measures to protect children from such quests. If necessary, you need to contact specialists, especially if you notice characteristic signs of participation in similar "entertainment".

The child plays a suicidal game - what to do?

To solve this problem, it is first necessary to openly and honestly talk with the adolescent, listen to him, do not shout and do not swear, do not blame anything. The only and very simple way how to get out of the Red Owl and any other similar game is to stop communicating with the curator and perform assignments. It is necessary to explain to the child that no one will find him, and the life of family members is out of danger. If the situation is aggravated by depression, blackmail and other difficulties, it is necessary to contact the psychologist and the police (anti-cybercrime department).

How to protect children from death groups?

The target audience of people organizing suicidal quests are emotionally unstable adolescents. The game "Blue Whale" or "Red Owl", or their analogs, will not interest the happy children with a stable psyche.

How to protect the child from death groups:

1. Discuss the rules for using gadgets and staying at the computer. This includes setting a timeframe, identifying sites and resources that can and can not be visited. It is important to explain the reasons for such limitations, to tell the child about the motives of the parents.
2. Establish a relationship of trust in matters of Internet security. Do not violate the personal boundaries of a teenager, completely forbid him to communicate in social networks or instant messengers, to control the viewed content. It is better to explain that the Internet is not a reliable source, and all incoming information should be checked and consulted about it with parents.
3. If conversations are ineffective, or the child does not agree to make contact, you will have to apply content filters. Parental control can be installed on the router, implemented using the "Family Safety" function of the Windows operating system, adjust search settings in Google and Yandex, or use special software for PCs and gadgets - FamilyShield, KinderGate, KidsPlace and similar tools.
4. Content filters, trust relationships and parental control do not guarantee that the child will not use alternative browsers and search engines, or he will not be written by the curator of the death group in the messenger. Parents should periodically review the story, the publication of a teenager in social networks (posts, pictures, including saved ones), news that his friends share, take interest in new acquaintances and entertainments.
5. In the presence of obvious changes in behavior, propensity to suicide, you need to talk frankly about this with the child and turn to a therapist. To disturbing signs include constant fatigue, apathy and lack of interest in hobbies, lack of sleep, constant use of a computer, smartphone or tablet at night, refusal to eat, neglected appearance. Children who fall under the influence of Internet criminals often restrict social contacts, even with close friends, are irritable and quick-tempered, secretive, make attempts to say goodbye, for example, remind of their love for parents, hand out personal things, seek to see distant relatives, grandmothers and grandfathers, go to the cemetery.
6. Having found out the correspondence with the representatives of the death groups, you should make a screenshot, print it out and contact the police, the department of cybercrimes.
7. To monitor the quality of a child's sleep at the slightest suspicion of his participation in the death group, to see if the teenager wakes up at night to contact the criminal curators.