A game that goes by multiple names, the most common being Blue Whale, has been linked to at least 130 deaths since its release, the first being in Russia in 2015.

Now it is being reported that the online suicide game might be making its way to South Africa, and parents are being warned.

A mentor of one of the groups, 21-year-old Russian Philipp Budeikin, said he took part in an effort to “cleanse the world”.

The game can be downloaded onto your computer or smartphone, and the user is then presented with a series of “daily tasks by an assigned administrator” which are “dangerous and sinister, with users encouraged to kill themselves on the 50th and final day,” reports EWN.

Arrested in April, Budeikin [above] has since been “inundated with love letters from teenage girls addressed to him at a Russian jail where he is in custody,” reports The Daily Mail.

He is being held on charges of “inciting at least 16 schoolgirls to kill themselves by taking part in his social media craze called Blue Whale”.

But what he thinks of those who have committed suicide is super rough. He refers to them as “biological waste”, and told the police ” ‘they were ‘happy to die’ and he was ‘cleansing society'”.

Here’s an example of what the tasks would look like:

The challenge also instructs users to “post pictures of self-mutilation” along with #BlueWhale online:

The game targets lonely teenagers who find solace in online attention, much like the Slender Man story.

Although various organisations have provided advice for parents on how to prevent their teens from getting involved, it really requires a proper sit-down in order to get to the real grit of it.

A viewer called in to CapeTalk to voice his concerns:

Good luck out there, I would hate to be a parent right now.

[source:ewn&thedailymail&capetalk]