In May 2023, a computer game was identified involving the player (the father) performing incestuous acts against his daughters and nieces aged 12 years old. Investigators uncovered that a Victorian offender had earned close to a million dollars in 3 years from the production of the game and was actively developing and distributing the game to subscribers around the world. What followed was an urgent collaboration between Vicpol JACET, Argos covert operatives and the AFP Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce to bring down the producer of the game, paying subscribers and the platforms making the game available.

Virtual Reality (VR) has existed since the 1980s but has recently experienced a resurgence thanks to advancements in technology and the emergence of the ‘metaverse’. Once a niche technology, it is fast becoming mainstream and as with most developing technology, the degenerate elements of society are fast exploiting it. From online grooming to virtual sex and haptic feedback devices that simulate physical touch, in absence of any law enforcement, how long before the virtual world becomes the worlds largest cesspool of child exploitation?