Beyond financial losses, scams also erode trust in digital systems, and the effects reach further than many realize. Research shows that exposure to scams can diminish trust even among people who are not directly victimized. In one survey across nine countries, 79 percent of respondents said that receiving a scam message made them less likely to trust that communication channel. 

The threat is especially acute in developing countries. While victims in developed countries experience higher average losses per scam, developing countries suffer significantly higher costs in terms of Gross Domestic Product, with some individual countries losing 10 to 11 percent of GDP to scams. And the harms go beyond economics. The industrialization of digital scams is also fueling a global crisis in human trafficking, according to INTERPOL, with scam centers once confined to Southeast Asia now expanding worldwide. 

A new UNDP Issue Brief explores how digital scams are affecting developing countries and identifies four trends that are accelerating this challenge: 

1. Rapid digitalization expands economic opportunity, but it also expands the digital attack surface. As millions come online and adopt new financial and public services, scammers exploit unfamiliarity, weak safeguards, and new digital entry points.   
2. AI and other emerging technologies are dramatically lowering the cost of becoming a scammer, while enabling more effective and personalized scams that can also be scaled.  
3. No one is “left behind” by scammers. As digital footprints expand globally, scammers are refining tactics to target every age group and region, adapting their approaches to local behaviors and vulnerabilities.  
4. Declining trust in institutions, economic precarity, and social isolation create the conditions scammers exploit, increasing susceptibility to manipulation and deception.