Vancouver police are warning impressionable kids about the potentially serious consequences of a new Facebook challenge called Game of 72.
Facebook users are challenged to “vanish” for 72 hours without telling anyone — sometimes prompting police searches and, police warn, possible criminal charges.
“This is just a ridiculous idea from the get-go,” said Const. Brian Montague of the Vancouver Police Department.
“Having been involved in missing-persons cases, these are very traumatic for friends and family.
“To pretend to be missing, and to put someone through that, shows an incredible lack of common sense and regard for others.”
Montague said the VPD receives upwards of 3,000 legitimate missing-persons cases a year, and warned those posing as missing could be charged.
“The last thing we need to have is people pretending they are missing,” he said.
“If someone causes a false police investigation to be launched, it could result in criminal charges.”
The online game — in which players dare one other to vanish for 72 hours without telling anyone — has taken off in Europe, but social-media trends know no borders and can often spread globally in short order.
A Vancouver-based expert on online awareness said the game’s popularity shows that parents need to stay up to the minute on their kids’ computer habits.
Jesse Miller of Mediated Reality said the game has the potential to trigger panic and prompt amber alerts if parents aren’t aware of what’s happened.
“We’re in a world where kids expect a reply to a text in half an hour,” said Miller, a public speaker on social media trends and online awareness.
“My concern is that kids are just trying to get likes from their friends, but it could be dangerous.”
Miller suggests parents stay up to date on what’s hot in social media, and sit down and talk things over with their kids.
“I think parents should be aware of trends, whether it’s something positive like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge or something like Game of 72,” Miller told The Province. “Parents need to be aware.”
French authorities were alerted to the game in late April after a 13-year-old girl from northern France went missing for three days.
After being gone for 72 hours, the girl, identified only as Emma, then refused to tell police or her parents where she had been. She said only that she had completed the Game of 72 dare.
And last week a massive police hunt was launched in England after two young teen girls, Siobhan Clarke, 15, and Sammy Clarke, 14, suddenly vanished.
Friends believe the two chums, who were found three days later, may also have been playing Game of 72.
The power of social media to spur impressionable teens can have tragic consequences.
Last year, French officials warned of another Facebook challenge for people to throw themselves into rivers or the sea, or face buying a meal for the nominator.
The craze resulted in tragedy when a teenager drowned after tying his bicycle to his leg before riding into a river.
Miller suggested kids be made aware of the consequences should someone start to panic.
“Kids should be aware that their online profile will be made available to authorities and to police.”
