Developments in the metaverse might open new doors for criminals. In a statement to Reuters, Interpol's executive director for technology and innovation, Madan 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." The statement indicates that Interpol expects new crimes to occur on the metaverse or metaverse-related products and services.
Second, the global police agency is anticipating that metaverse, as an advanced platform, will help criminals execute existing crimes more sophisticatedly. Since the metaverse implements augmented and virtual reality in new ways, Interpol is worried about the consequences of such technology being misused by bad actors and criminals.
Even without the metaverse, online phishing and scams have increased in the last few years. But with metaverse, terror groups and other organisations with malicious motives can facilitate crimes in the real world. Adding to his statement, Oberoi says, "if terror groups wants to attack a physical space they may use this space to plan and simulate and launch their exercises before attacking."
The products built to experience the metaverse are already advanced enough to create a virtual environment where people can hang out and chat. Further, games made in virtual reality have been around for a while now, and they are an apt example of how someone can create an interactive environment that looks exactly like the real world.
It is not just Interpol that is worried about the misuse of the metaverse. Earlier this month, Europol, the European Union's agency, also expressed concerns about how terror groups might use virtual worlds for training, recruitment and propaganda. Since the underlying technology used to create a metaverse is decentralised, it would be very easy to create a virtual space for the extremists.
Europol says that if metaverse environments record users' interactions or movements on the blockchain, it might be possible to follow or track everything, making information about extortionists or stalkers accessible. Metaverse became one of the most discussed topics on the internet in 2021, and several companies, such as Meta, announced their dedication towards the metaverse. However, the hype has not yet materialised into something available to the masses.