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Last week, at the 90th Interpol General Assembly in New Delhi, The International Criminal Police Organization launched the first global police Metaverse.
The Interpol Metaverse will help law enforces understand how crime could evolve in the virtual world and get ready for it.
Details about Interpol Metaverse
“Fully operational, the Interpol Metaverse allows registered users to tour a virtual facsimile of the Interpol General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France without any geographical or physical boundaries”, explains Interpol’s official statement.
The newly released tool can also be used by officers to share knowledge via their avatars and to take immersive forensic investigation and other policing training courses
Interpol has also established an Expert Group to represent police departments’ concerns about the new virtual world.
What Crimes Await for Us in the Metaverse
International Criminal Police Organization experts believe that the virtual world will be the palace for crimes against children, data theft, money laundering, financial fraud, counterfeiting, ransomware, phishing, sexual assault, and harassment. And as the number of users grows, the list of possible criminal offenses will grow too.
For law enforcement, some of these threats are likely to present significant challenges, because not all acts that are criminalized in the physical world are considered crimes when committed in the virtual world.
Financial crime-as-a-service in Metaverse, such as digital money-laundering tools, are also of concern to law enforcement, as are business email compromise, CEO impersonation fraud, e-commerce scams, and investment fraud.
Although the Metaverse is now in its early stages, according to technology research firm Gartner, by 2027, 40% of large corporations will use a combination of web3 and AR in virtual world projects. And by 2026, one out of every four people will be spending at least an hour per day working, studying, shopping, and socializing virtually.
Even now big tech companies are investing in VR headsets, software, content and environments. Beyond gaming and social networking, Metaverse has promise for virtual conferencing in business, design and testing processes, retail and, inevitably, crime.
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