From the category archives:

Virtual Worlds

Spoofing Life: Reality Altering Technology Enables Crime

August 31, 2010

As we come to rely more and more upon technology as a filter for our life experiences, opportunities to bend reality abound. In theory, none of this is new. Ask anybody who has ever been on an online dating site and they will tell you what you see is not always what you get. Yet as technology plays an ever-increasing role as an intermediator for our daily experiences, those who control the technology can control our experiences. These changes have some significant implications for crime and social disorder in the 21st century. Phishing emails routinely take users to websites that appear to be genuine, but are in fact controlled by organized crime. Unsuspecting victims enter their personal banking details and are defrauded shortly thereafter. Pedophiles pretend to be teenagers, creating extensive fake online profiles in order to lurk in chat-rooms popular with young adults and to contact them. The [...]

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Virtual Currency, Real Money Laundering

January 10, 2010

Over the past decade, a number of new alternative forms of payment have been introduced throughout the world in order to keep up the growing volume of electronic commerce. The most famous of these companies is PayPal, which in 2003 became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay. Paypal made it easier for payments to be made through the Internet and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper money, checks or bank money orders. It can be very useful for the vast majority of the planet’s inhabitants that do have access to a credit card. Of course alternative payment systems also open up the doors to alternative forms of money laundering. While Paypal was certainly revolutionary in its approach, it always settled transactions in well-established forms of national currency–such as Dollars, Yen or Euros. Over the past few years however, a number of virtual worlds and MMORPG companies have begun [...]

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World Record Set for Sale of a Virtual Item

January 6, 2010

Ante raised in price of virtual world goods. Virtual World goods are a multi-billion dollar a year business. We knew people were willing to fork over small amounts of money for virtual islands, couches, dresses and shoes. Now a world record has been broken for the sale of the most expensive virtual item to-date–the Planet Calypso Virtual Space Station. The item, which was purchased via MindArk’s Entropia Universe sold for 1 Million PED (Entropian Dollars) for an amount equivalent to 330,000 US Dollars. The purchase of this item should be a wake-up call for those interested in virtual worlds, virtual economies and virtual commerce. In addition, law enforcement officials should also take notice of the amount of virtual currencies moved annually. According to many studies, the annual sales of virtual world goods is in the billions of dollars annually, (1, 2, 3). Anecdotal evidence is already showing great interest by [...]

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Avatar Identity Theft: Police in Britain Make an Arrest

November 30, 2009

November 30, 2009 Real-world arrest for man who stole RuneScape virtual characters by Murad Ahmed, Technology Reporter A man who hacked into accounts to steal virtual characters and their possessions on one of the world’s biggest multi-player online games has been arrested. In what experts believe is the first case of its kind in Britain, the man obtained log-in details for RuneScape, a web-based role playing game with more than ten million members, to steal their “virtual” characters. Players in the game have often spent years creating their online characters by completing set tasks and activities. Police believe that password details were obtained through a so-called phishing scam where a fake internet page tricks people into handing over their personal information. Officers from Central Police e-Crime Unit arrested the man last Tuesday on suspicion of a number of computer misuse offences. The man, from the Avon and Somerset area [...]

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Theft of Virtual Goods: A Case Example from Germany

January 10, 2009

A good article in German explaining how police in Germany dealt with the theft of virtual goods within the MMORPG Meetin2. What do you do when the victim of the robbery is an avatar? How does the avatar sign the police report? Of course the questions are somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the main point is a serious one. How will the officer at the front desk of the police station respond when somebody wants to report that the virtual fairy Phoenix shoes have been stolen? The case raises a number of legal issues that are far from resolved such as what is property? What is theft? Can an avatar be a victim of a crime? A translation, via Google Translate, is available here: SPIEGEL ONLINE 29. Januar 2009 Diebstahl im Onlinespiel Polizei fahndet nach Phönixschuhen Von Frank Patalong Die Bochumer Polizei ermittelt in einem Fall von Diebstahl: Ein Himmelstränenband, Phönixschuhe, ein [...]

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Dutch Virtual Theft Leads to Arrest

December 10, 2008

The case below is another example of real world law being applied to virtual environments. Could this case have been charged as burglary? Did the criminal enter the “structure” with the intent of committing the theft? Would it be more appropriate to charge the matter as “unauthorized access to a computer system?” From the story below, it is apparent both Dutch police and Sulake (owner of Habbo) are taking these matters seriously. Dutch police arrest teenager for online furniture theft in Habbo Hotel A Dutch teenager has been arrested for allegedly stealing virtual furniture from “rooms” in Habbo Hotel, a 3D social networking website. The 17-year-old is accused of stealing 4,000 euros (£2,840) worth of virtual furniture, bought with real money. Five 15-year-olds have also been questioned by police, who were contacted by the website’s owners. The six teenagers are suspected of moving the stolen furniture into their own Habbo [...]

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Avatar Murdered! (Sort of…with a heavy dose of media-hype)

June 30, 2008

The below case is interesting. It refers to the “murder of an avatar”…more on that in a moment. First an overview. Police in Japan arrested a woman after she accessed without authorization the computer of her husband and deleted his profile from the popular game Maple Story. The woman said she did so in retaliation after her husband filed for divorce without advising her in advance and without any explanation. The perpetrator in this case had access to her husband’s login credentials dating back to happier times in their marriage. Now, on to avatar murder. The Independent was clearing using some journalistic license in this case in referring to the murder of an avatar. Good headlines like this sell newspapers, so a bit of sensationalism here and there should not be too shocking. But let’s look at this issue more closely. Was it murder? What actually happened? Well in this [...]

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QQ: China’s New Virtual Coin of the Realm?

November 10, 2007

Do Virtual World Economies Threaten “Real Economies?” What is most interesting about the story below is that it demonstrates how the extent to which virtual world economies and currencies have grown. The fact that the Chinese government moved to protect the RMB/Yuan from QQ Coins say much about the state of affairs and how seriously they take the threat. As noted elsewhere, unregulated currencies open the door for a variety of criminal activities. How should regulators or law enforcement respond to these issues? How should new forms of currency be regulated? How many police agencies and financial control authorities around the world are sensitive to the criminal and tax avoidance possibilities of virtual currencies? In the interim, how many millions of dollars, euros or pounds are being moved illicitly, veiled by the face of amazingly cute penguins? Officials Try to Crack Down As Fake Online Currency Is Traded for Real [...]

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Is virtual world crime “real crime?”

June 27, 2007

From simulated sex with child avatars, to financial fraud, money laundering and terrorist recruiting, virtual worlds are opening new opportunities for technologically savvy criminals.

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