Durban police this week uncovered an Internet sex ring by accident - a few floors above a police station.
Metro Police were attending to an attempted suicide on the eighth floor of Nichol Square Building in Monty Naicker (Pine) Street when a scantily clad woman emerged from a doorway to see what the commotion was about.
Behind the nondescript door with its heavy security gate was a set of stairs. With no air conditioning, the "office" was hot, but not as steamy as the action inside the 30-odd cubicles.
Superintendent Wiseman Mchunu said the police had found young women playing with sex toys in front of cameras.
"It is the first time we have come across anything like this," Mchunu said.
Captain Kacey Naicker said when police saw the negligee-clad woman, they decided to investigate, but were shocked by the scene awaiting them.
"We saw things that I did not know existed," he said.
In the cubicles were attractive young women in various stages of undress, acting out the fantasies of men thousands of kilometres away.
Each room was equipped with computers, webcams (in various positions) and a double bed.
For a few hundred dollars, sex-starved men could watch the women "perform" and interact via their own web recorders.
To save the less attractive clients' feelings, notices taped next to the beds warn the girls not to say anything like, "he's old, bald, fat or ugly" out loud, as the clients might be able to hear them.
While pornography is not illegal in South Africa, the business - believed to be owned by two Israelis in Johannesburg - is not licensed and isn't registered with the South African Revenue Service or the Film and Publication Board.
Police said they were closing down the operation until the paperwork was in order and the company had complied with health and safety regulations.
This week the "working girls" were spring cleaning the establishment while waiting for the company's legal representatives to sort matters out.
The manager, a Whoopi Goldberg lookalike, was not perturbed by the fuss, and only worried about when the girls could start working again.
She was adamant that it was a "clean" operation.
"We do not allow men or drugs on the premises," she said.
The women earn 40 percent of the takings.
According to revenue sheets, one of the most popular performers earned about $16 500 (R160 000) in two weeks.
But "Whoopi", who earns a salary, said that the average income was closer to R5 000 a month.
Although the work might be regarded as sleazy, the women obey strict rules when dealing with clients.
The girls may take their clothes off, but may not call their customers "daddy", simulate rape or act as if they were under age.
A Metro health and safety inspector will inspect the office before the women are allowed to resume their positions in front of the camera.
While the operation was the first of its kind, "Whoopi" said similar ventures were "springing up all over the show".