The International Criminal Police Organization (IPCO), or Interpol, is investigating how it can vet crimes in the metaverse. However, a top Interpol officer believes that there are issues with defining a metaverse crime.
According to a renowned publishing house, Jurgen Stock, Interpol Secretary General revealed the agency’s intent to oversee criminal activities on the metaverse. Stock highlighted the ability of “sophisticated and professional” criminals to adapt to new technological tools for committing crimes.
This initiative to police the crimes in the metaverse comes nearly four months after Interpol launched its metaverse in October last year at the 90th Interpol General Assembly in New Delhi, the capital city of India.
During the launch, the announcement read:
“As the number of metaverse users grows and the technology further develops, the list of possible crimes will only expand to potentially include crimes against children, data theft, money laundering, financial fraud, counterfeiting, ransomware, phishing, and sexual assault and harassment.”
According to Stock, criminals have started targeting users on platforms similar to the metaverse, adding that “we need to respond to that sufficiently.”
However, the crime vigilance organization faces issues with defining a metaverse crime. Madan Oberoi, Interpol’s executive director of technology and innovation, stated:
“There are crimes where I don’t know whether they can still be called a crime. If you look at the definitions of these crimes in physical space and try to apply it in the metaverse, there is a difficulty.”
Further, he revealed that Interpol is challenged with raising awareness about possible metaverse crimes.
In parallel to launching into the metaverse in October 2022, the organization created a dedicated unit to fight crypto crimes. The initiatives followed Interpol’s “red notice” to global law enforcement in September for the arrest of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon.
The metaverse is expanding at a surprising pace and keeping the same in the picture; cybersecurity experts have published a report predicting the potential targets of cyber criminals in 2023.
The report titled “Consumer Cyberthreats: Predictions for 2023” highlighted that in the coming times, not only will malware, but ransomware and phishing attacks will be critical concerns for the crypto industry, and subsequently, the metaverse could be a potential target too.