A NORTH Petherton family has spoken out after their son was the victim of the scary online 'Momo Challenge'.

Momo is a brown haired young woman, with bulging eyes and bird-like legs. She was originally created by Japanese artist Midori Hiyashi for the Link Factory.

Neither the artist nor the company is linked to the challenge.

The character's sinister stretched features make for a disturbing image that could easily upset or worry a younger child.

According to reports, the game encourages youngsters to hand over their mobile number and correspond with Momo, who sets them "challenges".

It is claimed some of those challenges involve self-harm and eventually suicide.

One North Petherton father has spoken out about his son's experience in the hope that others affected may come to light.

"My eight-year-old suddenly started acting strangely about three weeks ago," he said.

"He had been a healthy, happy young boy but all of a sudden he was not sleeping, not eating, pretending to be ill and did not want to leave his mum's side.

"We thought he was being bullied at school, but we couldn't get to the bottom of what was going on until one of my wife's work colleagues told us about this Momo Challenge."

The parents asked their son about the character and the boy's father says his son became 'hysterical'.

"It was heartbreaking and eventually once he settled down we talked to him and he told us what had been happening," the father said.

"He had seen the video on YouTube on a gaming channel, and in the weeks since he had been challenged to dance in public, to get up in the middle of the night, and to drink something from underneath the kitchen sink.

"Since we have spoken to him and assured him he is much better but we want other parents to be aware if their child shows some of those symptoms it might be to do with this. It may be a hoax in many cases but it has real effects on young children."

Parents are urged to be aware of what their children are watching and reading online.