As technology evolves, malicious actors are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to target people and scale scams globally, causing significant financial and emotional harm. Combatting this threat requires a coordinated cross-sector response. In addition to Google’s efforts to build powerful security defenses, Google.org is helping launch the Anti-Scams Philanthropy Collaborative to protect the world's most vulnerable populations.
Today, alongside craig newmark philanthropies, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, JPMorganChase, Vodafone Foundation, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, Asian Development Bank - and partners Aspen Digital and Dalberg - we are launching an action-oriented coalition of funders with a shared commitment of $50 million over three years to accelerate AI solutions and empower people to combat scams at scale.
The Collaborative's first initiatives will focus on:
- Smarter Defenses: Promoting open, AI-driven tools and shared infrastructure to detect and disrupt scams before they reach vulnerable populations.
- Scam Resilience: Equipping high-risk communities and frontline civic actors with targeted education, destigmatization, and secure reporting.
- Future Threats: Building early-warning systems and threat intelligence to prepare for next-generation, AI-enabled fraud.
"As we worked over the last few years to tackle the rapid spread of scams in regions like Southeast Asia, we realized that we needed more resources and collaboration across the sector to make faster progress.” says Rowan Barnett, Director of Google.org for APAC, EMEA and Global Stronger Communities. "By collectively directing our capital and unique cross-industry capabilities, we can more effectively build and test solutions, and scale what works quicker."
This effort builds on our ongoing philanthropic commitment: To date, Google.org has contributed $15 million to scam prevention through education, AI tools, and research. Our partners, including the Internet Society (ISOC), Oxford Information Labs (OXIL) Research, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foundation, are now rolling out grassroots programs to protect millions of vulnerable individuals across EMEA and APAC. This model also draws on Google.org’s experience building AI Collaboratives, cooperative, multi-year initiatives that unite nonprofits, researchers, funders, and Google's technical expertise to drive impact at scale in areas like food security and wildfire management.