A popular mobile phone game due to launch in Britain may help paedophiles entrap children, safety campaigners have warned.The Pokemon Go app – which is already a craze in the US and Australia – allows players to chase and trap cartoon monsters in real locations on their phone using GPS tracking and ‘augmented reality’ technology.
Using similar technology to Google Maps, it determines a player’s location and maps the area around them.
When a player turns on their phone’s camera, the app then makes it appear as if the Pokemon – or ‘pocket monsters’ – are near them, allowing the player to chase through the streets after them. Players who find a Pokemon can swipe their screen to catch it.
But critics and security experts say the game may leave child players vulnerable to abusers who could hijack their phones and lure them to places where they can be attacked.
Since Pokemon Go was released abroad last week, a group of teenagers have already been robbed by criminals who hacked into one of the websites where players can download the game.
They led the American teenagers to a remote location in Missouri by making Pokemon cluster there, before robbing them at gunpoint.
Players have also been led to remote spots where they stumbled upon dead bodies, while dozens of other young gamers were inadvertently drawn into a sex shop.
Rumours suggest Pokemon will go live on Apple’s App store in the UK and other parts of the world as soon as tomorrow.
But yesterday an NSPCC spokesman said: ‘Given its massive popularity with children it’s worrying that this game appears susceptible to being hijacked by those who may wish to harm them.
‘When creating these games companies must consider the potential risks to young users and do everything they can to make sure their app doesn’t put them in danger.’ Campaigner Margaret Morrissey, of Parents Outloud, added: ‘If robbers can hijack the game, who’s to say child abusers cannot do the same?
‘I can see the attraction of this game to children. But companies need to be more responsible about issuing explicit warnings to parents about what can go wrong.
‘Producing a successful game should not come at the expense of our children.’
Pokemon was originally a video and trading card game that was hugely popular in the Nineties. It encouraged children to collect fictional characters such as Pikachu, Jigglypuff and Charizard, and train them to battle each other. The game also sparked a TV show and several films. Pokemon Go’s ability to blend the real and digital worlds is proving an even greater hit.
Within hours of its release on July 6, the app shot to the top of the rankings in Apple’s App Store.
Shares in the firm that created it – the Japanese tech giant Nintendo – have soared by 53 per cent in just the last three days on the back of the game’s success, adding an astonishing £7billion to the value of the company.
The game’s UK release was ‘paused’ because of a surge in demand causing its server to crash.
However, many British fans have reconfigured their smartphones to ensure that they can download it. And security experts are warning that some are downloading unofficial versions which contain hostile software that reveals the entire contents of their phone, including their location, to criminals.
It was also reported that Shayla Wiggins, 19, from Wyoming, was led by the game to a river, where she found a corpse floating in the water.
Meanwhile staff at a sex shop in Plymouth said people keep coming into the store asking about Pokemon after the game showed them that one of the monsters was ‘inside’. One worker said: ‘I didn’t know what they were talking about, as I’m not really into games.’ Nintendo has been contacted for comment.
VIA - iol.co.za
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