Despite a drop in traditional scams, such as document forgery in Africa, synthetic identity fraud powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital forgery tools have continued to gain ground.

Sumsub, an identity verification company, which revealed this in its Q1 2025 Identity Fraud Report, however, disclosed that Nigeria and Tanzania had recorded the highest fraud rates in Africa despite continental decline.

“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 per cent and 4.44 per cent, respectively,” the report said.

Sumsub noted that in Tanzania, fraud accounted for over two 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 the rise was consistent with global trends, although Africa does not stand out from other regions in terms of total synthetic fraud volumes.

Sumsub’s Vice President, Sales for Africa, Hannes Bezuidenhout, said: “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.”

Accordingly, the report noted that 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, it observed that Nigeria’s fraud numbers painted a mixed picture. While the total fraud rate ticked up, document forgery dropped sharply by nearly 80 per cent, thanks to improved verification systems.

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.

It stated that synthetic document fraud remained 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, the modest drop masks a deeper shift in criminal tactics.

IN a related development, a report by Check Point Software Technologies has spotlighted Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Africa as countries significantly impacted by cyber threats in May 2025.

The company’s Global Threat Index for May 2025 revealed a dynamic landscape of cybercrime, with new and persistent threats targeting organisations worldwide.

According to the report, Ethiopia continued to hold the top spot as the most targeted country among the 110 surveyed. Nigeria ranked fifth globally with a Normalised Risk Index of 77.2 per cent, while South Africa, though still impacted, showed improvement, moving down to 47th from 53rd in April.