H1 2026 Update: Top Fraud Trends

Fraud across Africa has entered a new phase, where the main battleground is identity. While the overall rate of suspected digital fraud declined to 2.6% in 2025, fraud activity has become more organised, targeted and identity driven. This includes ecommerce deception, account takeover attempts and coordinated money-mule recruitment.

The data highlights a growing paradox: lower headline fraud rates are masking fewer but higher-impact fraud schemes that are harder to detect. Fraud networks are increasingly targeting early points in the customer lifecycle and relying on social-engineering tactics that bypass traditional identity verification and authentication controls.

This report equips fraud, risk, identity and authentication leaders across Africa with practical insights to assess current controls, benchmark against regional trends and adapt strategies with confidence. It combines consumer survey findings from Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia with intelligence from billions of transactions across TransUnion's global network, including Botswana, to present a holistic view of how fraud is evolving across the region.

Key findings include:

• Botswana: Retail was the highest-risk industry for digital fraud, with a 1.9% suspected fraud rate
• Kenya: Median consumer fraud loss was USD 839 — highest in the region
• Namibia: Vishing was the most reported fraud scheme among those targeted
• Rwanda: Money mule was the leading cause of digital fraud loss, cited by 29% of affected consumers
• South Africa: Login attempts (3.0%) had a higher suspected fraud rate than account creation (2.4%) — a pattern unique in the region
• Zambia: Most (95%) rated personal data security as very important when transacting online — the highest across the region

Get the latest insights to help your business reduce fraud risk, improve user trust and deliver secure digital experiences.