Spanish Police Make First Reported Arrest In Metaverse
A teenage boy is reportedly the first person to be arrested for crimes committed in the metaverse after he posed as a bisexual girl to get other young girls to send him naked pictures.
Officers from the Spanish National Police arrested the unnamed teenager in Madrid on 4th February.
The Spanish state broadcaster RTVE reported that it is the first-ever arrest for a crime in the metaverse.
The suspect is accused of multiple counts of corruption of minors, possession and distribution of child pornography, and sexual exploitation of minors via the internet.
The probe began in May when a couple in Zaragoza reported that their 11-year-old daughter had been tricked via an app into sending explicit images to another user.
Police quickly located the suspect and found he had been posing as a bisexual 19-year-old woman and had started chats with around 20 underage girls.
After gaining their trust, he had asked them for photos and videos of a sexual nature.
And, in exchange, he had sent them images sent to him by other girls, pretending they were of him.
Police said he has no prior criminal record.
They seized a 1TB internal hard drive from his home for analysis.
He has not been taken into custody, as he was 17 years old at the time his alleged crimes were committed.
An examining magistrate’s court in Zaragoza has taken over the case.
