Tech Giants Unite Against Online Scams at UN Summit in Vienna

Tech Industry Signs Landmark Anti-Scam Agreement at UN Summit

Eleven major technology and retail companies have signed a voluntary agreement to coordinate their fight against online fraud at the United Nations Global Fraud Summit in Vienna. The Industry Accord Against Online Scams and Fraud was announced at the two-day summit organised by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and INTERPOL, running from the sixteenth to the seventeenth of March twenty twenty-six.

Who Signed and What They Promised

The full list of signatories includes Adobe, Amazon, Google, Levi's, LinkedIn, Match Group, Meta, Microsoft, OpenAI, Pinterest, and Target. Under the accord, companies have pledged to share threat intelligence on criminal networks, deploy AI-powered defences to detect fraud faster, strengthen verification for financial transactions, and provide clear reporting channels for users who encounter scams. The agreement also calls on governments to formally declare scam prevention a national priority.

Staggering Losses Driving Action

The accord arrives amid record-breaking fraud losses. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center recorded more than sixteen point six billion dollars in reported damages in twenty twenty-four, with over eight hundred and fifty-nine thousand complaints representing a thirty-three percent jump over the prior year. Investment crime, driven largely by cryptocurrency pig butchering schemes, accounted for billions in losses, while older adults were disproportionately affected.

A Pattern of Voluntary Pledges

This is the third such voluntary industry pledge in three years. The UK government secured the Online Fraud Charter from twelve companies in November twenty twenty-three, and twenty firms endorsed the AI Election Accord at the Munich Security Conference in February twenty twenty-four. Neither produced a public accountability report. Notably, the new accord carries no penalties for non-compliance, raising questions about its enforceability.

Industry Infrastructure

Google has invested in anti-scam infrastructure including the Global Signal Exchange, a real-time intelligence-sharing platform launched in partnership with the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and DNS Research Federation. The platform has grown from fifty million to one hundred and thirty-five million signals, enabling vetted partners to share and consume threat intelligence across the ecosystem.