Four ways Google is combatting scams in Asia Pacific

SOURCE | 1 year ago

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Apr 25, 2025

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We announced new partnerships and investment in the fight against scams at the recent Online Safety Dialogue 2025.

Wilson White

VP, Government Affairs & Public Policy

Google leaders as well as policymakers, industry partners and civil society groups stand on a stage with the event title behind them

Scams calls or texts aren’t just a nuisance — they can also be financially devastating. And people in Asia Pacific feel it acutely, having lost an estimated $688 billion in 2024, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the world’s losses.

Recognizing that sophisticated, cross-border criminal networks demand a cross-sector response, we convened industry partners, policymakers and law enforcement at Google’s annual Online Safety Dialogue event in Taiwan to find collaborative ways to tackle this critical challenge. Here’s what we announced at the event:

From L to R: Tina Lin, Managing Director, Google Taiwan; Yennun Huang, Minister of Digital Affairs, Taiwan; Wilson White, Vice President, Government Affairs & Public Policy, Google Asia Pacific

In 2025, Google.org plans to provide $5 million in anti-scam grants across Asia Pacific.

An attendee tries ShieldUp!, a mobile-game designed to help people learn about scams tactics.

We announced a partnership with Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs focused on improving people’s safety online. The partnership will involve sharing information on scam trends, promoting international collaboration on anti-scam efforts, developing solutions to detect and combat scams and investing in additional education and awareness.Through Google.org, we take a local approach to combatting scams by supporting nonprofits. In 2025, Google.org plans to provide $5 million in anti-scam grants across Asia Pacific. This builds on Google.org’s efforts to combat scams, which include a $2 million grant to a Singaporean social impact organization to help people protect themselves against scams and online threats, and a $1 million grant to a Taiwanese nonprofit aiming to reach 100,000 people with anti-fraud initiatives.The Global Signals Exchange (GSE) allows participating organizations to exchange signals and alerts about online scams in real time, helping the services and platforms to identify and disrupt scam campaigns and fraudulent activities much faster. Currently, 20 sources share close to 180 million signals. In the first quarter of 2025, Google connected additional product areas to the GSE, with 10 million signals received and 4 million shared. This is a 10-fold increase in signals ingested compared to the initial pilot program back in October 2024.Building on the success of ShieldUp! in India, we’re bringing this mobile game-based learning approach to more places including Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand in 2025. ShieldUp! exposes people to weakened versions of scam manipulation tactics in a safe, game-based environment to build resilience against future manipulation attempts. Results have shown that people were able to identify scams more effectively after playing the game than when they interacted with traditional awareness campaigns.

Combatting evolving online fraud in Asia-Pacific is critical. We’ll continue to invest, share information and build stronger partnerships to meet this challenge.

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