Rachaele's daughter was targeted by a vicious game called 'Letter X'. Here's her warning.

A UK mum has called out a disturbing new Snapchat game called ‘Letter X’ that is leading to online bullying among teens. The ‘game’ involves targeting a single victim for a vicious group bullying session, that mum Rachaele Hambleton, 34, calls “horrific”.

It begins when a Snapchat user sends someone the letter X and that person then has to come back with the name of one person who then becomes the target. Hambleton says it encourages children to post the “most vile abuse imaginable”.

Radio host Yumi Stynes talks about checking her teenage daughter’s smart phones. Post continues…

The mum first became aware of the game when her daughter Betsy, 12, saw it happening and refused to participate, only to become a Letter X target herself.

Snapchat is a popular mobile phone app that allows users to send videos, pictures and messages, all of which then disappear after ten seconds. This also means all evidence of bullying disappears with it/

Hambleton spoke to UK TV show This Morning on ITV and urged parents to stop their children from using Snapchat. She also posted on the official Facebook page for her blog Part-Time Working Mummy and shared her daughter’s experience.

Hambleton wrote:

Dear Betsy

This morning you came into the kitchen and showed me something that had left you upset and confused and I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it all day.

People you know, including your friends have begun a new online ‘game’. It consists of sending someone the letter ‘X’. That person then sends you back a name of someone you all know…you then write the most horrific things you can think of about that person – about their weight, their appearance, their personality…the more horrid the comments the better. It then gets posted anonymously, but publicly, upon snapchat stories for everyone to see & share.

You couldn’t understand why people you know & like were doing this and repeatedly showed me various names and comments whilst in shock at what was being written about them…

So today, you wrote your own story on Snapchat – telling everyone how disgusting this new game that they are playing is, you said how cruel and mean people are being and how you want no part in it.

Hambleton says several of her daughter's friends wrote back to her saying it was brave of her to stand up to hundreds of teenagers, without thinking of the possible backlash.

"You have no idea whether the backlash of what you've written may now turn into everyone choosing your name to throw around to abuse," the proud mum recounted.

She told Mirror she decided to speak out about the game after hearing about two suicides that occurred after bullying on Snapchat.

"There's so much peer pressure out there. Bullying is just endless now because of mobile phones," she said.

She asked children taking part in these games to "just stop it because people are taking their own lives because of this sort of thing - it's that serious."

If you or someone you know has been a victim of bullying contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.