The enigma of human behavior, is the reason why people become criminals.
From socioeconomic and psychological factors, to environmental influences, opportunity and rational choices, as well as social and cultural norms, there are lots of reasons why people might engage in criminal activities.
Every person's journey into criminality is unique.
And technology is an enabler, and the Interpol is starting to recognize this when it comes to virtual reality.
The International Criminal Police Organization, which is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control, has issued a report that examines the mataverse from a law enforcement's perspective.
Quoted in the report, Jürgen Stock, Interpol's Secretary General, said that:
This happens after investigations into the metaverse revealed that the digital world is swirling with gang rapes, child grooming and graphic content.
Meta's Horizon Worlds, for example, has become a safe haven from people to carry out sexual assaults under the disguise of their avatar.
In one of the cases, a female using a female avatar was approached by a male avatar in a bustling city plaza, who then began making crude sex noises and hitting her with an umbrella.
The female avatar tried to escape, but the lewd grunting increased in volume.
"Stop it!" she shouted.
Another example was when users reported rapes on the metaverse platform Roblox.
In of the cases, a seven-year-old girl was "violently gang-raped" by two avatars who grabbed her and forced the avatar to engage in simulated sex acts.
In another example, research has found that online predators use different grooming strategies to manipulate children into sexual interactions.
Reports suggest that some adult avatars have 'ejaculated' on young girls in the metaverse and threatened to commit sexual acts on users under 15.
Researchers identified 100 potential violations of Meta's policies for VR in just 11 hours and 30 minutes of recordings of user behavior in the Horizon Worlds app.
This sometimes leads to offline encounters without the knowledge of parents.
Read: Metaverse Is 'Dangerous By Design' And Not Suitable For Children, Researcher Found
But what makes it worrying is that, the attacks weren't carried out by criminals.
Instead, they were done by ordinary social media users who 'hide behind' the anonymity of their avatars.
Just like how many people have become trolls on social media and harass others, people have also become sexual offenders on the web, thanks to virtual reality.
And not just that, because the technology also allows people to do other sorts of crimes that were previously impossible.
Here, the Interpol's 'Metaverse: A Law Enforcement Perspective' report delves into various aspects related to illegality in the metaverse.
Key points in this so-called metacrimes, include grooming, radicalization, and cyber-physical attacks against critical infrastructure. Additionally, it highlights issues like theft of 3D virtual/cultural property, trespassing in private virtual spaces, and robbery from avatars.
At this time, investigators met with roadblocks because the metaverse lacks standardization and interoperability, and that the virtual worlds also span multiple jurisdictions, and the complexity of accessing the metaverse across various devices and systems.
Then, there is the fact that virtual crime scenes may lack physical evidence, relying solely on digital interactions involving assets like cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Unlike the tangible world, the metaverse at this time operates in a legal grey area, where traditional laws on physical interaction don't necessarily apply or are difficult to enforce.
The lack of specific laws for the metaverse emboldens some users to commit acts they wouldn't dare in real life, exploiting the space's anonymity and immersive nature.
Because evidence in online environments can easily vanish or appear altered, the metaverse can be a scary place to some people.
Meta points out that there are numerous privacy tools built into the Horizon Worlds platform, including options to turn off the voices of other players.
"The kind of behavior described has no place on our platform, which is why for all Meta Horizon Worlds users we have an automatic protection called personal boundary, which keeps people you don't know a few feet away from you," the spokesperson said. "We want everyone using our services to have a good experience and easily find the tools that can help prevent situations like these, and so we can investigate and take action."
Read: The United Arab Emirates' AI Minister Wants 'Murder' In The Metaverse To Be Considered A Real Crime
