Broward Sheriff's Office investigates social media threats against 2 schools

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – Broward Sheriff's Office deputies are investigating social media threats that targeted two schools.

Broward County Public Schools spokeswoman Nadine Drew initially said Boyd H. Anderson High School in Lauderdale Lakes and Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach were placed on lockdown Friday morning, but BSO spokswoman Gina Carter later clarified that Boyd H. Anderson High School was placed on a "restricted movement alert."

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No other details were immediately released by school officials or authorities, however a student at Boyd H. Anderson High School told Local 10 News that the threat against their school involved a message from someone on social media who used the Momo challenge image as their profile picture.

"Don't come to Boyd Anderson tomorrow," the message read, accompanied by a knife emoji.

The so-called Momo challenge has been around for a couple years and primarily targets children through the Facebook-owned app WhatsApp.

The person posing as the Momo character reaches out to a victim and encourages them to complete various tasks in order to avoid being cursed.

The tasks include harming yourself, and victims are asked to provide photograhic evidence once each task is completed to continue playing the game.

The game ends with Momo telling the victim to take their life while recording it for social media. 


About the Author

Amanda Batchelor is the Digital Executive Producer for Local10.com.

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