Overview
- INTERPOL published its African Cyberthreat Assessment in early August 2026 and found AI was involved in 55% of reported cybercrime as losses climbed to $484 million.
- The assessment is based on survey responses from 36 African member countries and intelligence from private partners including TrendAI, Fortinet, Mastercard, Shadowserver and S2W.
- TrendAI recorded about 600,000 detections of AI-generated deepfakes and digital sextortion that criminals use to coerce victims and amplify scams.
- Seventy-two percent of surveyed countries reported organised scam centres, with the highest concentration in Southern and West Africa fuelling cross-border fraud and credential harvesting.
- Coordinated operations have produced arrests, server takedowns and some recoveries, but persistent gaps in real-time data sharing, legal coordination and AI expertise leave banks, telecoms and users vulnerable.