Bremer County Sheriff's Office: monitor your children's screen time

The Bremer County Sheriff's Office is reminding parents to be aware of their children's screen time, the apps they use and what they're looking up online.

This comes after the sheriff's office got a call about the Momo Challenge that spreads through social media and cell phones. The challenge has been around for some time.

Phone users are encouraged to contact a user named 'Momo' who then sends threats to the user and asks them to do dangerous tasks.

The sheriff's office said the challenge hides itself in other harmless games that kids play. The tasks end up telling kids to harm themselves or commit suicide.

"It appears to be more hype or hoax rather than reality," the sheriff's office said in a Facebook post.

Reports have also surfaced that the game is available on YouTube and YouTube Kids.

"If the children don't do as they are instructed, Momo threatens to put a curse on them," the sheriff's office said.

"There are very few confirmed cases of self-harm or suicide that are connected to 'Momo', but we wanted to get this information out to parents in case this becomes popular in our area like the Tide Pod challenge, officials said.