  There are many applications available for personal computers and mobile
devices that facilitate users in meeting potential partners. There is, however,
a risk associated with the level of anonymity on using instant message
applications, because there exists the potential for predators to attract and
lure vulnerable users. Today Instant Messaging within a Virtual Universe (IMVU)
combines custom avatars, chat or instant message (IM), community, content
creation, commerce, and anonymity. IMVU is also being exploited by criminals to
commit a wide variety of offenses. However, there are very few researches on
digital forensic acquisition of IMVU applications. In this paper, we discuss
first of all on challenges of IMVU forensics. We present a forensic acquisition
of an IMVU 3D application as a case study. We also describe and analyse our
experiments with this application.
