By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the face of cybercrime in Africa, transforming once relatively conventional online offences into faster, more sophisticated and increasingly difficult-to-detect attacks.
According to the INTERPOL African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, AI now powers 55 per cent of reported cybercrimes across the continent, underscoring the growing challenge facing governments, businesses, financial institutions and individuals as Africa’s digital economy expands.
The warning comes at a time when Africa is experiencing unprecedented digital growth. More than 1.1 billion mobile subscribers were recorded across the continent in 2025, creating a vast digital ecosystem for communication, commerce and financial transactions. But as more Africans move online, cybercriminals are also exploiting the expanding digital landscape.
The assessment, based on survey data from 36 African member countries, describes cybercrime as having evolved from isolated criminal activity into an industrialised and borderless ecosystem increasingly powered by artificial intelligence.
The financial consequences are already significant. According to INTERPOL, reported cybercrime losses across Africa more than doubled from $192 million in 2024 to $484 million, with AI-enabled scams, credential harvesting and automated social engineering identified among the major drivers of the increase.
The scale and sophistication of the threat vary across regions. East Africa has emerged as a hotspot for mobile money fraud and ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure, while business email compromises (BEC) and romance scams remain widespread across Central and West Africa. Southern Africa, meanwhile, has become an increasingly attractive destination for international cybercriminals because of its relatively high level of internet connectivity.
Online scams remained the most commonly reported form of cybercrime in 2025. Criminals are increasingly exploiting mobile money platforms, social media and AI-generated content to manipulate victims and make fraudulent communications appear legitimate.
INTERPOL reported that 72 per cent of surveyed African countries had identified the existence of scam centres, with the highest concentration recorded in Southern and West Africa.
The growing use of artificial intelligence is particularly concerning because it allows criminals to automate activities that previously required considerable time, technical expertise and human effort. AI can assist criminals in identifying potential victims, generating convincing phishing messages, impersonating individuals or organisations, automating social engineering and creating content designed to evade detection.
The threat also extends beyond financial fraud. Digital sextortion and online harassment remain persistent problems, with criminals increasingly turning to AI-generated deepfakes and synthetic media to target victims. Data from TrendAI, one of INTERPOL’s partners, detected about 600,000 sextortion incidents during the reporting period, highlighting the scale of a crime that can have devastating consequences for victims.
Business email compromise schemes have also entered a more sophisticated phase. Rather than relying on poorly written or easily identifiable fraudulent messages, cybercriminals can now use AI to generate highly convincing email communications that mimic legitimate business correspondence.
Africa-based threat actors are also increasingly operating across borders, targeting victims in Europe and North America while using cyber infrastructure distributed across multiple jurisdictions. This makes investigation and prosecution more complicated, particularly where countries have different cybercrime laws, investigative capabilities and data-sharing arrangements.
Another emerging danger is the use of AI to create synthetic identities. According to the report, cybercriminals are no longer relying solely on stolen credentials. Instead, they are combining genuine personal information with fabricated details to construct convincing identities that can be used to bypass security systems. These synthetic identities have reportedly been used to circumvent biometric verification systems, open bank accounts, obtain mobile loans and register SIM cards under false identities.
The development represents a significant challenge for Africa’s rapidly expanding digital financial ecosystem, where identity verification has become central to banking, telecommunications, fintech and other digital services.
INTERPOL also identified the lack of real-time information sharing between banks, telecommunications companies and law enforcement agencies as a significant weakness in the fight against financial cybercrime. As criminal networks operate across multiple platforms and jurisdictions, delays in sharing information can give perpetrators enough time to move stolen funds, destroy digital evidence or disappear behind layers of digital infrastructure.
Director of INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Directorate, Neal Jetton, described cybercrime as one of the most significant criminal threats facing Africa.
In his words, “Cybercrime has emerged as one of the most significant criminal threats to the region. AI is automating every stage of a cyberattack from reconnaissance and phishing to extortion and evasion. However, cooperation between countries could significantly strengthen the continent’s response because when countries work together, cybercriminal infrastructure can be identified, disrupted and dismantled.”
Despite the scale of the challenge, the assessment also points to important progress in Africa’s cybersecurity response. INTERPOL disclosed that 17 African countries enacted or amended cybercrime legislation in 2025, signalling growing recognition among governments of the need to strengthen legal frameworks as criminal tactics evolve.
The challenge, therefore, is no longer simply about protecting computers from malicious software. It is about protecting digital identities, financial systems, communications networks, businesses and critical infrastructure from increasingly intelligent and adaptable criminal networks.
The African Cyberthreat Assessment 2026 forms part of INTERPOL’s African Joint Operation against Cybercrime initiative. For Africa, the message is increasingly clear that the same artificial intelligence accelerating digital innovation can also empower criminal networks. The contest between those two forces will increasingly determine how secure the continent’s digital future becomes; therefore, fast action is of utmost importance.
