A traumatized mother is suing Roblox, alleging the online gaming platform has created a breeding ground for child predators after her young son was groomed and nearly kidnapped by a man he met through the app, according to a lawsuit.
The then 5-year-old boy, an avid Roblox user, was allegedly targeted by a male predator pretending to be a child his age on the app in 2024, according to the lawsuit filed this week in the Northern District of California.
The predator allegedly used “well-documented grooming tactics” to build the boy’s trust, eventually coaxing the child to tell him where he went to school, the lawsuit obtained by The Post stated.
The 5-year-old’s mother — who was not named in the suit — then received a call from another parent at her son’s school warning that a suspicious adult man had been following her son and other schoolchildren, court documents detailed.
Before the mom could intervene, her son came home and told her about the alarming incident, the filing claimed.
The predator allegedly approached the 5-year-old and his brother and mentioned that he was the boy’s friend on Roblox, the complaint said.
The child then responded with “you are not a kid,” and the man attempted to kidnap him — sparking a struggle after the brothers refused to go with him, the lawsuit alleged.
The predator then saw police arriving and fled. He was eventually arrested after the horrified mother filed a police report.
Roblox, which has over 380 million active monthly users, is a vast ecosystem where one can play online games and engage with immersive virtual worlds as customized avatars.
Instead of just playing house or joining in on fun virtual events, the platform also allows adults masquerading as children to engage in sexually explicit behaviors and groom underage users on the app, the lawsuit alleged.
The gaming platform also allegedly actively hosts over 600 “Diddy” games, with titles such as “Run from Diddy Simulator” and “Diddy Party,” which appear to replicate sexually explicit incidents involving the disgraced music mogul Sean Combs, according to an internal investigation led by law group Kherkher Garcia, which is representing the mother and son.
There are also more than 900 Roblox accounts displaying “variations” of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s name, and a host of games such as “Escape to Epstein Island,” after one of the locations where the financier trafficked and abused minors, the lawsuit alleged.
The mother and son are now seeking unspecified monetary damages for the life-altering emotional and physical damage caused by the grooming of the young boy.
“This case is a terrifying reminder of the world we live in, where capitalist greed far outweighs humanity,” Sadi R. Antonmattei-Goitia, a partner of the Texas-based Kherkher Garcia representing the family, said in a statement.
“In allowing apps of these kinds to operate with virtually no restrictions, monitoring, or age verification processes in place, we open ‘worlds’ designed for children to depraved individuals with unimaginable intentions and all the resources at their fingertips. We, as parents and citizens, must force systemic change,” Antonmattei-Goitia said.
Roblox did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The gaming platform has been the target of several lawsuits for alleged child sexploitation in recent years.
In October, Kentucky sued Roblox for allegedly allowing child predators to run rampant on its platform and exposing children to heinous material, including simulators of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
A North Carolina mother also sued the gaming giant in August for allegedly enabling a predator to sexually exploit her young daughter through the popular children’s app.
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