The website of Metasecurity reports on a study about virtual crimes.

The Australian Institute of Criminology last year published a rather large risk assessment document looking at very near-future directions of technology enabled crimes which is available on the Australian Government Website. Though the entire document itself makes for a fascinating read, of interest to myself in particular was this section discussing virtual worlds:

Online gaming and gambling

Online gaming, typically played via local area networks and the internet, is a growing industry. Major online gaming vendors include Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (Playstation). Broadband connection, technological innovations and a reduction in the price of electronic data storage devices continue to lower entry barriers for new entrants into the gaming industry and contribute to the richness and diversity of gaming content. Games, particular MMOG and MMORPG, are increasingly gaining popularity with the digital generation. MMOG and MMORPG allow players to compete with and against each other on a grand scale in real-time.

Not only do MMORPGs appeal to a broad age range (M age = 26.57, range = 11-68), but the appeal is strong (on average 22 hours of usage per week) across users of all ages (r = -.04)... MMORPGs are not simply a pastime for teenagers, but a valuable research venue and platform where millions of users interact and collaborate...on a daily basis (Yee 2006:309).

The virtual worlds in MMOG and MMORPG, representing the persistent social and material world, provide a synthetic environment in which people communicate with each other using a virtual persona - avatar - and allow strangers who do not necessarily speak the same language to establish relationships (in the virtual worlds). Players are also able to receive education, to purchase virtual properties, acquire virtual accommodation and trade in virtual merchandise, and to inflate their virtual status using physical cash in the virtual worlds. A study by Chen et al. (2004) suggested that, as at March 2003, an exchange rate was estimated to be 10,000 in virtual cash unit to USD 1. It was also reported on LindeX, the official Second Life currency exchange
(http://secondlife.com/whatis/currency.php), that an exchange rate was estimated to be L?250 (Linden Dollars in Second Life) to USD 1 as at January 2007.The availability of a market for virtual currency exchange has attracted the interest of individuals and multi-national corporations. In November 2006, the first self-proclaimed virtual world millionaire, Anshe Chung, announced that she had accumulated virtual assets worth more than US?1 million in physical currency (Hutcheon 2006). Multi-national corporations such as IBM, Toyota, Adidas, Telstra, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and MTV have established or intending to establish a presence in these virtual worlds. In 2007 Sweden announced establishment of a diplomatic presence in Second Life (AAP 2007b) and in 2006 popular music band Duran Duran announced purchase of a luxury island (Wallace 2006a). On the island, live concerts and media appearances will take place alongside the band's media, public and live engagements in the physical world.The availability of a market for virtual goods trading (e.g. http://www.itembay.com.tw/) provides criminals with financial incentives to offend. Organised criminal groups and hackers are targeting MMOG and MMORPG sites to steal gamers' usernames, passwords, credit-card numbers, and virtual game pieces and accessories. Stolen virtual characters are then 'sold' to the original owners or to other players (Ortega 2006). Examples include: