Working collaboratively to fight scams in Asia Pacific

Scams are growing more complex, fueled by increasingly sophisticated tactics from transnational crime groups. A recent UN report illustrated the effect these scams have across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. In 2025, scam losses across East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand reached up to $114.1 billion USD, with over 40% of ASEAN consumers said to be experiencing scams.

Tackling these highly organized networks requires a unified effort. Today, we are sharing how, at Google, we are scaling our defenses to protect APAC communities. This includes built-in protections across products and platforms, industry-wide collaboration, and new local partnerships to increase community resilience.

Built-in protections across devices and platforms

Our first line of defense is to secure the devices and platforms people use every day. This year, Android launched Fake Call Detection, a feature designed to spot AI-driven phone call impersonation. Built on open RCS technology, other platforms can adopt the same protections. On Pixel, built-in scam detection now alerts you to potential scams from many popular messaging apps. We are partnering to bring this to additional Android users later this year. We are also expanding Android developer verification to protect people against malicious apps outside Google Play, wherever apps are distributed.

Industry alignment for collective defense

Beyond product solutions, defeating fraud networks requires coordination across experts and industries. Earlier this year, we joined industry peers to sign the Industry Accord Against Online Scams and Fraud, taking a collective approach to sharing threat intelligence and coordinating defenses. Building on the Industry Accord, we recently helped establish the Japan Anti-Scam Alliance (JASA) to enable public and private institutions to deploy aligned defenses.

Google.org also recently helped launch the Global Anti-Scams Philanthropy Collaborative to coordinate cross-industry philanthropic action against scams globally.

Efforts to strengthen community resilience

To strengthen resilience at the community level, today Google.org announced $6 million in funding to The Asia Foundation and the Tech for Good Institute to help small businesses and individuals in APAC to stay safe online. The efforts will include training local communities on building scam resilience, incubating AI-powered defense prototypes, and equipping policymakers with insights to strengthen threat measures.

This builds on Google.org’s ongoing support for local organizations, like Bamboo Builders in Singapore and the Taiwan FactCheck Center, to deliver specialized, hyper-local training to citizens. And it expands on the ASEAN Foundation’s Scam Ready ASEAN initiative, which is bringing online scam prevention resources to millions in the region. We are also expanding Be Scam Ready, an educational scam-awareness game — and one of the Scam Ready ASEAN’s program resources — to Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. Be Scam Ready simulates common scams to prepare citizens, and is already available in Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan.

Helping communities stay ahead of organized fraud is central to our work, and we will continue to advocate for a collaborative, global approach.