Audax Cybersecurity research on the test called "Blue Whale Challenge.

What is the "game" of suicide?

The Blue Whale consists of 50 challenges that take place over a period of 50 days. It starts with simple steps asking participants to draw an animal, stay up late at night or watch horror movies for an entire day. Then more sinister challenges begin. The unknown administrator orders the player to undergo the drowning test or the blue whale test. In the former, the victim is asked to tie a noose around his neck and film himself while on the verge of drowning, and in the latter he must use a large knife to carve a whale on his arm.

This game was launched by the Russian social network VK.com. VK.com is the equivalent of Facebook in Russia. By creating an account there and posting how someone wants to play Blue Whale with a special hashtag, an unknown person would be contacted to start the process.

By following the trail of articles about the Blue Whale, we came across 2 users with VK.com accounts. The first one is https://vk.com/77gtr777 and the second one is https://vk.com/whaletutor with the username Zera Tron where it seems that the account in question has been deactivated.

Watch footage of Zera Tron speaking with perhaps one of his victims:

What are the 50 commandments:

  • 1. Engrave "f57" on his hand with a razor, send a photo to your "coach"
  • 2. Wake up at 4.20 in the morning and watch psychedelic and scary videos sent to you by the "coach"
  • 3. Cut your hand with a razor, on the veins, but not deeply. Only three cuts. Send a picture to "coach"
  • 4. Draw a whale on a piece of paper. Send a photo
  • 5. If you are ready to be a whale, form a "YES" on your foot. If not, cut yourself several times (self-punishment)
  • 6. Working with encryption
  • 7. Cut and form F40 in your hand. Send a picture to "coach"
  • 8. Write "#i_am_whale" in your VKontakte status
  • 9. You must overcome your fear
  • 10.Wake up at 4.20 in the morning and go up to a rooftop (as high as possible)
  • 11. Cut and shape a whale on your hand with a razor. Send a photo
  • 12. Watched psychedelic videos and horror movies all day
  • 13. Listen to the music they (the coaches) will send you
  • 14. Cut your lip
  • 15. Prick your hand with a needle several times
  • 16. Do something to hurt. Make yourself sick.
  • 17. Go to the highest rooftop you can find and stand on the edge of it for a while
  • 18. Go to a bridge, stand on the edge of it for a while
  • 19. Climb a crane, or at least try to
  • 20. Coach will check to see if he can trust you
  • 21. Talk "with a whale" (with another player or the coach) on Skype
  • 22. Go to the roof and sit on the edge of it with your feet dangling
  • 23. Another job with encryption
  • 24. Secret work
  • 25. He met a "whale"
  • 26. Coach will give you your date of death and you have to accept it.
  • 27. Wake up at 4.20 in the morning and go to a railroad
  • 28. Don't talk to anyone all day
  • 29. Swear you're a "whale"
  •   30- 49. Every day you will get up at 4.20am, watch horror videos, listen to the music sent to you, make one cut on your body a day and have a conversation with a "whale".                                                   
  • 50. I jumped off a cliff. End your life

And here are the commands in English:

  • On the arm blade cut f57 (blue whale, 4: 20)
  • Wake up at 4:20 and watch scary video
  • Cut lengthwise veins of the arm (not deep) only three cuts
  • Draw a whale on a piece of paper
  • If you’re ready to become a whale you write “yes” kn the blade leg, if not, do with their hands whatever you want (doing a lot of cuts and so on)
  • In code
  • scratched f40
  • Write in the status #I’m a Whale
  • Should overcome your fear
  • Get up at 4:20 and go to the roof
  • It is necessary to scratch out a whale on the hand (or make a drawing on the hand)
  • The whole day watching scary video
  • Listen to music that they send to you
  • Cut the lip
  • Poke the needle arm
  • Make yourself hurt
  • Go to the roof of the largest and stand on the edge
  • Going to the bridge
  • Climb on the crane
  • Check to trust
  • It is necessary to talk on Skype with a whale
  • Sit down on the roof of the feet
  • Again, the job with the code
  • Secret Mission
  • meet with whale
  • You say the date of death, and you must accept
  • 4:20 go to the rails
  • Do not talk with anyone
  • Give an oath that you’re a whale
  • From 30-49 you every day you wake up at 4:20, watch videos, listen to music, and every day doing one cut on her hand, talking to a whale.

Η Audax Cybersecurity επικοινώνησε με ειδικούς ψυχαναλυτες και ζήτησε την γνώμη τους. Οι ειδικοί απάντησαν πως αν κάποιος γίνεται έρμαιο για 50 μέρες κάποιου επιτήδειου, ο οργανισμός του ανταποκρίνεται αμέσως, σαν ρομπότ. Μπαίνοντας στην διαδικασία του να ξυπνάς στην συγκεκριμένη ωρα, 04:20 τα ξημερώματα, είναι η ώρα και η στιγμή που ο ανθρώπινος οργανισμός, κατα την διάρκεια του ύπνου, κάνει restart και πραγματικά εκείνη την ώρα ξεκουράζεται.

Moreover, according to the experts, the song that the perpetrators urged their victims to listen to in the morning hours certainly emits low-frequency shocks, activating sensitive impulses inside the brain, a kind of mind control.

The song was found on YouTube in two versions, one in English and one in Russian.

Here in English:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyHI-icbucY

The investigation continued in order to identify how the unknown persons communicate with their victims. Many reports within forums, on reddit and from victims' testimonies, it was identified that it was done with the hacked version of Spotify. That is, those users who downloaded derivative versions of Spotify and not the official one, were hacked and allowed the perpetrators to access the victim's phone and with a message such as "you want to play a game" they tried to lure their victims.

Δείτε εδώ φωτογραφίες από συνομιλίες στο Instagram:

Έρευνα Blue Whale

What is Spotify?

Spotify is a music streaming service that allows its users to access more than 20 million songs. The sound quality is top notch at 320kbps! However the mania doesn't stop there as thousands of songs are added daily from the biggest labels on the planet and all the independents.

Videos of suicides

Since the day the game appeared, a category appeared on reddit called WATCHPEOPLEDIE. It's really surprising that in this thread, videos of people committing suicide in the last few months are posted. And there is a big question here? Who are the people taking the videos of people committing suicide and how did they get to the particular time and place? 

The WATCHPEOPLEDIE category is on Reddit, specifically this link: https://www.reddit.com/r/watchpeopledie/?count=25&after=t3_6bzc3g

Was it copied from a movie?

Audax Cybersecurity tracked down a 2016 film that was shown in US theaters and never in Greece called Nerve.

"Nerve" is one of the many mediocre mystery films released in 2016. The film's protagonist, "Vee," is an insecure teenager growing up in a frantic, youthful environment. The lives of her friends and the entire world of the film revolve around a strange game. In it, the person concerned must first choose whether they wish to become a "spectator" or a "player". The brave ones, of course, choose the latter.

The game-application then puts various tests on the "players". Initially the tests take the form of innocent everyday dilemmas: a kiss to a stranger or a test of an expensive garment. Very quickly, however, the "players" find themselves hanging from the roof of a house or playing for their lives by pressing the accelerator on the engine after being blindfolded. Throughout this sickening game, the "spectators" watch those who are being tested on "Nerve".

The idea for the film belongs to the author Jean Ryan who wrote the corresponding book in 2012. The story goes that when Ryan was finishing the last pages of his book, a young man in Russia, Philippe Bundeikin, was creating a similar dark game. He didn't intend to make a bestseller, he just wanted to "clean the world of biological waste." The online game is said to have been quickly released via the Russian social media platform "Vkontakte" and was named "Blue Whale" (according to the website of Corriere della Sera the name "Blue Whale" comes from the dramatic habit of blue whales committing suicide by going into shallow water).

The victims

13-year-old Meylene Lizette from Colombia. Two months later, on 28 April 2017, the 13-year-old's body was found hanging from a rope. The girl had accepted the latest challenge of the Blue Whale game.

In Russia, the birthplace of the game, 16 suicides of girls have been directly linked to Blue Whale. In total, data suggests that in two years there have been over 130 suicides of people who have accepted the ultimate challenge. Victims are mostly teenage and pre-teen girls.

In our country, a 15-year-old girl from Katerini was the first victim of the game. The young girl is being treated at the Papageorgiou Hospital after being taken there by her parents, according to the police. She revealed that through the game someone asked her to take a large amount of pills. Fortunately, however, she was scared and only took two pills. Earlier she had cut her leg again at the suggestion of the man in the game.

The news of a second incident of self-harm by a 14-year-old schoolgirl from Thessaloniki has been circulating on the Internet since Thursday evening, May 19. From the EL.AS. however not confirmed about a second victim of the "Blue Whale".

Has the author been arrested?

A few weeks ago the Russian police arrested a young man, Philippe Bundeikin, who allegedly created this game in 2012 in order to "clean up society". He now receives love letters from fans of the game in prison where he is being held.

Φιλίπ Μπουντέικιν

A video was released of the Russian police raid on the perpetrator's house where he was arrested. It has not yet been ascertained whether the account in question, which we mentioned above and which is deactivated, belonged to Philippe Bundeikin.

 

 

What is certain is that the Blue Whale story has been and will continue to be fed by fake news: allegedly new victims of the game or fake photos of young people carving their bodies to pass the tests. But the danger is real, and the fake news generated by the 'dark Internet' only serves to magnify a myth that fascinates young people seeking acceptance, warmth and companionship, even with strangers. Most of all, it will appeal to those who feel strong if they fulfil the goals set for them and weak if they are unable to end such a dangerous game.

Safety tips

Audax Cybersecurity is particularly sensitive to children and their surfing on the internet and publishes safety tips on how children can surf safely:

  • On the internet it is easier to lie about who you really are.
  • We do not accept strangers on our social media accounts.
  • We use the privacy settings on the websites we visit.
  • We don't put provocative names on our profiles.
  • We never arrange meetings with people we have met through the internet.
  • We do not send sensitive information or inappropriate videos or photos of us.
  • We are never tempted by money or gifts, even if someone offers you money to rehearse in inappropriate scenes, it is still abuse.
  • We seek the advice and support of an adult we know loves and trusts us.
  • Always remember that even if the person you are talking to online is really who they appear to be, there is a chance that they could be part of a child exploitation ring.