Cybercrime in virtual worlds

Cybercrime consists of criminal acts committed online by using electronic communications networks and information systems. Cybercrime causes significant financial and social damage. It can take many different forms ranging from theft of identities, virtual properties or virtual assets, to counterfeiting, money-laundering, extortion, fraud, phishing, spamming and spreading malicious code (malware), as well as harassment, child sexual abuse, incitement to racial hatred and to terrorist acts, glorification of violence, or spreading terrorist content, racism and xenophobia. 

The recently adopted Digital Services Act aims to create a fairer and safer online world. It contains specific measures to protect children and young people online. For instance, service providers and platforms must put measures in place to mitigate risks for children and young people, such as parental controls settings, age verification system, child-friendly tools to help young people to signal abuse or get support.

The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) regularly reports on the threat landscape and gives recommendations aimed at platform providers and organisations.

In 2022, the Europol Innovation Lab published a law enforcement-centric outlook at the current developments on the topic of virtual worlds, potential implications for law enforcement, as well as key recommendations as to what the law enforcement community could do to prepare for the future. 

Virtual worlds can be a fantastic opportunity for children and young people to learn and interact, discover, and acquire new skills, but they can – as the internet - also facilitate sexual exploitation and abuse of children and access to age-inappropriate content. The Better Internet for Kids portal provides information, guidance and resources for a better and safer online usage, for instance regarding grooming, online marketing practices or virtual worlds to protect vulnerable individuals and youngsters. 

If you, as user inside a virtual world, are victim or witness a cybercrime, document as much digital evidence as you can (snapshots, screenshots, photos, recording) and immediately report the cybercrime online, or contact your local authorities and report the malevolent user to the platform and moderators operating that virtual world. If you come across child sexual abuse material, avoid copying or disseminating the content and report the URL to the police or your competent national hotline (see INHOPE database). Moreover, the recent published INTERPOL typology of crimes in cyber worlds might help you to identify the type of crime that you or someone have been victim of in a virtual world and put words on the situation you or they are facing. Even if you are not directly victim of cybercrime, reporting suspected child sexual abuse images or videos, including a sexually explicit image of a child, supports the fight against such material and will be of tremendous importance to make virtual worlds safer.

Quickness in reporting is key because virtual worlds environments are highly dynamic, and evidence can be easily hidden or deleted. The EU is currently working on establishing an effective and common EU mechanism to swiftly obtain digital evidence across borders (E-evidence) to be used in judicial proceedings.