Virtual girls raise predator alert

A Dutch child rights organisation has used 'virtual girls' to expose what it says is a fast-spreading new form of child exploitation.

Terre des Hommes says its researchers operated avatars of ten-year-old Filipino girls in public chat rooms, and gathered details of the adults who interacted with the virtual child.

The group says it identified 20-thousand people from around the world who were willing to pay children to perform sexual acts in front of a webcam.

Hans Guyt, from Terre des Hommes, says 46 Australians were among roughly 1,000 people whose details it passed on to Interpol.

Mr Guyt told Ildi Amon the number of people seeking to engage with the virtual girl was overwhelming.

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