EU warnt vor zunehmendem Betrug in virtuellen Welten[en] 

30% of European visitors to virtual worlds say they have recently lost some virtual property due to fraud, according to a survey carried out by Enisa of a sample of over 1,500 users in the UK, Germany and Sweden.

As in the real world, people pay for goods and property in virtual environments. Transactions are frequent and in many cases, ad hoc financial systems are established to convert hard currency into e-money and vice-versa.

But the main difference with the real-world economy is that security of transactions and deposits is extremely low in virtual worlds, where no clear property rights are applied. Almost one in three virtual users did not receive satisfactory compensation after experiencing a loss, while another 28% did not even try to recover funds or claim compensation, according to the Enisa survey. 

"Users can do very little if their virtual property is stolen. They are a very soft target for cybercriminals," said Giles Hogben, editor of an Enisa report on criminality in virtual worlds. Indeed, in most game worlds, the players have no legal right to the virtual objects they own. The only physical manifestation of their property is an electronic record in a database, which experienced hackers unfortunately do not find difficult to duplicate or modify.

According to the antivirus software developer Kaspersky, more than 30,000 new malicious programs were detected in 2007, a sharp increase of 145% in comparison to the previous year.

This trend did not hamper exponential growth in transactions and economic activities. In 2007, the total value of trade in virtual environments was estimated at $2 billion, while many forecast further increases in the coming years. The virtual world Project Entropia claimed a $360 million in-world turnover in 2006.

These figures are not surprising considering that there are a billion registered 'virtual' users in the world, a figure which includes multiple users. The Enisa survey shows that 70% of the sample have conducted commercial activities in a virtual scenario (11% daily, 23% weekly, 22% monthly).

To prevent flourishing criminal activities, Enisa recommends clarifying virtual property rights and stresses the importance of increasing awareness among the public, also on privacy issues, which tend to be neglected by users of virtual worlds.