Interpol warns of new forms of crime online
Published: Friday, Jan 19th 2024, 00:41
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Virtual worlds and artificial intelligence have confronted the police with new crime scenes. The police organization Interpol believes that investigators need to equip themselves for this. But it also sees opportunities.
According to the international police organization Interpol, the increasing spread of digital worlds poses a major challenge for investigators. Virtual worlds could extend across the jurisdiction of the judicial authorities of several countries, while the associated systems and devices are complex and inconsistent, Interpol explained in a study presented at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos GR on Thursday.
Police can be confronted with virtual crime scenes where there is no physical evidence to collect, only digital interactions with virtual assets such as cryptocurrencies. Such online environments are dynamic, which means that evidence can easily disappear or appear altered, according to Interpol. Nevertheless, digital worlds also offer opportunities for law enforcement, ranging from simulations and virtual crime scene preservation to virtual training.
Need to understand the virtual world
In the study, Interpol emphasized the need for investigators, digital forensics specialists and the judicial system to understand the virtual world and the associated technology. This is necessary to ensure the security of the virtual environment and to protect the rights of individuals there.
"The emergence of powerful technologies such as the metaverse is making the criminal landscape increasingly complex and transnational, posing new challenges for law enforcement agencies," said Jürgen Stock, Secretary General of the organization based in Lyon, France. "We see that the metaverse and artificial intelligence offer new opportunities for criminal activity for which the world is not fully prepared." International cooperation remains important in order to find an effective response to this evolving criminal landscape.
With 196 member states, Interpol is the world's largest police organization and coordinates international police cooperation. Its predecessor was founded in Vienna in 1923. Among other things, countries exchange information on wanted persons via Interpol.
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