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Mastercard joins UNDP in the Global Anti-Scam Coalition
MasterCard joins UNDPUnited Nations Development Programme, signing a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on deepening our understanding of the impact of digital scams on development and ways to detect and address them.
Digital scams represent a serious global challenge with staggering financial losses and an often devastating impact on people and communities. The annual global financial loss from scams has been estimated at a staggering $1.026 trillion¹, but could be even greater as many incidents go unreported. Digital scams are undermining the progress of the development agenda, as well as eroding the trust that is fundamental to an inclusive digital transformation. This impact is particularly severe for developing countries. The challenge is complex as it transcends national borders, sectors and disciplines and continues to evolve rapidly in technology and sophistication, highlighting the need for a collaborative and multi-stakeholder approach.
To better understand these challenges and build momentum to address them, UNDP’s Global Center for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development in Singapore is convening a global coalition of partners across international and local public and private sector entities and society civil on a project to better understand the impact of digital scams on development, with a focus on developing countries.
As a pioneer in safeguarding global networks, Mastercard is uniquely positioned to offer actionable insights into fraud and cyber scams. It is the first private sector organization to join this coalition, underscoring the company’s commitment to supporting global and regional efforts to improve the cyber resilience of digital economies. Mastercard will leverage its global expertise and extensive experience implementing technology to combat fraud, as well as share best practices and industry insights to help improve cybersecurity standards and combat digital scams.
“Digital scams impose harmful impacts on the global development agenda, and it is imperative that we deepen our understanding of the full complexity of the issue, particularly in relation to developing countries. We welcome Mastercard’s expertise in fighting digital fraud, along with its detection technologies and industry insights into consumer protection, which represent important assets for the global coalition and our collective efforts in safeguarding global progress towards the Goals of sustainable development”, said Marcos Neto, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Office for Policy and Program Support at UNDP.
“In today’s interconnected world, fostering trust is critical to achieving an inclusive digital economy. This is especially true when online scams have become as rampant and sophisticated as the technology itself. Continuing our efforts to address the growing threat to both economies and consumers, Mastercard is proud to join forces with UNDP by combining our deep expertise, advanced technology and innovative practices towards the global advancement of sustainable development of economies” , said Ari Sarker, President, Asia Pacific, Mastercard.
Over the coming months, the global coalition will develop a report on the socioeconomic impact of digital scams and a framework to address the complex dynamics at the global, national, societal and individual levels, with a particular focus on developing countries. This information will be used to develop a toolkit for collaborative actions to combat digital scams. This toolkit, which will include strategies, best practices and capacity building resources, aims to catalyze effective, multi-stakeholder interventions against digital scams.