Metaverse May Open Up New World of Cybercrime, Fears Interpol

After Metaverse became the tech buzzword of 2021, it is not that only the users and international tech companies that are preparing for its arrival in the active consumer market. It appears police agency Interpol is also gearing up for Metaverse.

The International Criminal Police Organization, widely recognised as Interpol, recently expressed its concerns regarding the arrival of an online immersive environment like the Metaverse. Interpol fears that Metaverse could give birth to new types of cybercrime and could take criminal activities to an unimaginably large scale.

As member countries have started raising concerns about preparing for Metaverse crimes, Interpol’s executive director for technology and innovation, Madan Oberoi was quoted in the media reiterating the same. Oberoi said, “Some of the crimes may be new to this medium, some of the existing crimes will be enabled by the medium and taken to a new level.”

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According to Oberoi, when virtual reality and related concepts such as augmented reality will start reaching more consumers, the chances of new-style phishing and cyber crimes will be at an all-time high. Another concerning issue is going to be Child safety in an online immersive world, which no one in reality really understands for now at least.

The Interpol official also added that the agency is well-aware of how virtual reality could become a tool to facilitate crime in the physical world. Oberoi said, “If a terror group wants to attack a physical space they may use this space to plan and simulate and launch their exercises before attacking.”

Recently, the 90th Interpol General Assembly was organised in New Delhi, India with the organisation by the end undertaking a series of resolutions. The four-day conference saw officials from all 195 member countries discuss various issues and plans to further strengthen the international agency’s network and capabilities.

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Along the same lines as tackling Metaverse and its expected impact on the world of crime, the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol at the beginning of this month said is a report that terror groups may use the virtual world in the future.

Europol, while mentioning the concerns in a report, also added that the world should expect and be ready to tackle the use of virtual worlds for propaganda, recruitment and training by terror outfits. The report also said, “users may also create virtual worlds with “extremist rules.”

The report further stated how the Metaverse environment will record every user interaction on the blockchain. This might further “make it possible to follow everything someone does base on one interaction with them — providing valuable information for stalkers or extortionists,” as per the Europol report.

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Metaverse last year made tech companies and investors thoroughly excited when many industry experts bet it to be the next big thing in the technology sector. In what was hailed as the “smartest” move by some tech enthusiasts, Facebook even changed its name last November to Meta.

This marked the official inclusion of the concept in general perceptions. However, very little progress has been made so far when it comes to what is there to show of Metaverse. The slow progress and general skepticism have been followed by Meta’s share taking a nose dive in recent times.

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