Digital Safety in the Metaverse
Instead of going to Las Vegas or Atlantic City, you decided to head to the casino to gamble with friends in the metaverse due to the convenience and cost savings. Some of your friends are 18-year-old international students. You also don’t have to worry about someone following behind you while holding poker chips to play games. The metaverse can offer a safer environment to gamble comfortably in your home.
Not all countries allow gambling, and the age limit varies by state in the United States. Therese restrictions encourage people to cross the border where gambling is allowed. Over the internet, to bypass these restrictions, users will use VPN and/or The Onion Router to join casino games with friends in the metaverse to circumvent the ban from the government. [38]
Similar to a teenager trying to purchase alcohol with a fake ID, underage users can create fake accounts and connect to the metaverse to play casino games. Falsifying identity allows accessing age-restricted and blocked content from the government while protecting privacy. Furthermore, scammers will likely use fake accounts to hide their identity from criminal activities.
In addition to fake accounts, scammers may leverage false advertisements if the service providers allow posting ads for subscriptions to generate revenue to build and maintain the metaverse. [43] Scammers are drawn to gambling events because gamers’ accounts are likely associated with financial information.
Ten countries ban gambling due to addiction, religion, and cultural norms. Gambling overseas is subject to arrest if caught. Therefore, gambling in the metaverse provides an opportunity to gamble without repercussions. VPN allows bypassing local censorship and blocks. Modern gambling technology includes using cryptocurrencies for betting. Because there is no physical boundary, it is difficult to identify and enforce users based on nationality. [39]
The metaverse will be interoperable with Web 2.0, and current trends on fake accounts in Web 2.0 will threaten digital safety. The trend will likely continue into the metaverse because stolen credentials from Web 2.0 can be used in the metaverse to generate fake accounts. Users may create multiple fake accounts allowing minors to engage in illegal activities. Using false identities through fake accounts, users attempt to protect their privacy while engaging in unethical activities. For instance, Facebook alone dealt with over 1.3 billion fake accounts in 2022, which were created with malicious intent.[41][42]
Scamming is nothing new. It is widely occurring online in conjunction with phone calls/texts. TransUnion’s 2022 Global Digital Fraud Trends Report found gaming fraud rose nearly 35% in one year. [44] Fraudsters will use various techniques such as setting up fake game events, blackmail, and social engineering to generate revenues illegally. American Gaming Associated states US online sports bookmakers generated $2.8 billion in revenue in the first half of 2022. [45] The metaverse will create extended opportunities for criminals to launder money.
Technological solutions are available to ban access to illegal websites determined by state actors. Service providers can use geo-locked accounts within certain countries to identify users’ nationalities while implementing a VPN blocking mechanism to block IP addresses.[40]
Background checks using identity services such as ID.me, LifeLock, AWS Secrets, and Manager that can support automated verification processes. large corporations such as Apple and Verizon adopted Identity as a Service such as ID.me to validate customers for discounts.
Besides user awareness training, vendors like IBM offers Fraud Management Software as a service using behavior analytics, but it has limitations.[46] However, current technological solutions have limitations. Law enforcement agencies will have to get involved to investigate crime and seek prosecution.
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