This brief explores the significant development challenge posed by digital scams. It provides an overview of how digital scams threaten development, an assessment of key trends in digital scams with a particular focus on developing country contexts and lays out what is needed to develop effective and holistic responses to scams that can support and accelerate development. 

The brief aims to inform policymakers and international partners by framing digital scams as a development challenge, identifying policy and investment priorities, and highlighting the need for coordinated action across national, regional, and global levels. The paper draws on previous work led by UNDP’s Singapore Centre on scams, including the Anti-Scam Handbooks v. 1.0 and 2.0, UNDP’s experience in supporting digital programming in more than 130 countries, and UNDP’s global policy leadership on digital.