The Metaverse is evolving, and tech giants like Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook), Microsoft, and Google are betting big that you’ll want to be a part of it.
Whether or not wearing an uncomfortable virtual reality headset is now filled with fear, analyst group Gartner believes it will become an inevitable part of many people’s lives. Predict By 2026, 25% of people are projected to spend an hour or more a day in the metaverse.
what could they be doing there? Playing games, working, shopping, hanging out with friends, and committing crimes.
History has taught us that where people gather, criminals go with them.
A new report from EUROPOL entitled “Crackdown on the Metaverse: What Law Enforcement Needs to Know”describes how the Metaverse is exploited for crimes against children, harassment, disinformation, online abuse, identity theft, counterfeiting, radicalization, ransomware, and mass surveillance.
Additionally, criminals can use the metaverse to impersonate individuals and brands in more convincing ways, giving others a false sense of security that their personal information is safe to share.
Of course, there is also financial crime. main motive for committing crimes. Scammers and scammers are inevitably eager to do the same as robbing virtual dark alleys, tricking unsuspecting users into handing over cryptocurrencies or digital keys to their fortunes.
And all this takes place in a virtual world with no concept of borders.
That’s not to say the Metaverse isn’t an opportunity for law enforcement, either. They themselves may abuse it for training purposes or to gather information about criminal activity. Depending on how much help we can gather from the tech companies behind the Metaverse technology, it could also be a way to gather data on the suspect’s activities.
What is clear is that many of us, including the police, choose to be confused by the concept of the Metaverse and see it as something that worries younger generations.
But just because it’s new and uncharted territory for many of us doesn’t mean we should turn our backs on the challenges it poses. If so, police need to understand that and dedicate resources to both how best to protect users and how to bring criminals who abuse the system to justice. .
INTERPOL, at least, says it will not hesitate to venture into the Metaverse. And to prove it, we announced the launch of the INTERPOL Metaverse last month. It is a virtual reality replica of the General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France, where users can interact with police officers via avatars and take an immersive training course in forensic investigations.
It remains to be seen how compelling the Metaverse will become, or if it will become a fad like 3D TV, but law enforcement is at least looking at ways to police this virtual world. I am relieved to know that
Let’s hope they aren’t too far behind…
