Nigeria and Tanzania have recorded the highest fraud rates in Africa despite continental decline.
Sumsub, in its Q1 2025 Identity Fraud Report, disclosed that traditional scams such as document forgery continue to decline in Africa while synthetic identity fraud powered by AI and digital forgery tools gains ground, it noted.
“Tanzania, Nigeria recorded higher fraud rates. Despite the continental decline, Tanzania and Nigeria reported year-on-year increases in overall fraud rates, recording 4.89 percent and 4.44 percent, respectively,” the report said.
In Tanzania, fraud accounted for over 2 per cent of all verification attempts, up 184 per cent, while in Nigeria, there was a 192 per cent increase, now representing 1.5 per cent of verification attempts.
Sumsub noted that this rise is consistent with global trends, although Africa does not stand out from other regions in terms of total synthetic fraud volumes.
“Africa’s fraud landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. Enhanced verification tools have decimated traditional document forgery, but criminals are adapting with synthetic IDs and AI-powered scams,” said Sumsub’s VP of Sales for Africa, Hannes Bezuidenhout.
Tanzania’s fraud rate surged nearly 10 per cent, while Nigeria’s rose by 2.5 per cent. In contrast, South Africa saw a significant 26 per cent reduction, and Kenya posted a 15.5 per cent drop.
However, Nigeria’s fraud numbers paint a mixed picture. While the total fraud rate ticked up, document forgery dropped sharply by nearly 80 per cent, thanks to improved verification systems, it stated.
South Africa saw a similar trend, with document forgery falling by more than 73 per cent. Kenya and Ghana also recorded major declines in document fraud—45 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively.
“While traditional forgery is falling out of favour, synthetic identity fraud, which involves the use of AI-generated credentials and fabricated documents, is rapidly growing in certain markets,” the report said.
It stated that synthetic document fraud remains below 0.3 per cent in South Africa but grew by a staggering 480 per cent year-on-year.
The report disclosed that the continent’s overall fraud rate dipped slightly to 3.42 per cent, down from 3.50 per cent in the same period last year. However, this modest drop masks a deeper shift in criminal tactics.
BusinessDay