East Africa has emerged as one of Africa’s leading hotspots for mobile money fraud and ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure, as artificial intelligence increasingly enables cybercriminals to launch faster, more sophisticated attacks, according to INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026.
The report found that 55% of reported cybercrimes across Africa now involve artificial intelligence, allowing criminals to automate phishing campaigns, create convincing fake identities and scale attacks that are becoming more difficult for victims, financial institutions and law enforcement agencies to detect.
For East Africa, the assessment identifies mobile money fraud and infrastructure-targeted ransomware as the region’s most prominent cyber threats, underscoring growing risks as millions of people increasingly rely on digital payments and mobile financial services.
The findings come as countries across the region, including Burundi, continue expanding digital financial services, mobile money platforms and electronic payment systems aimed at increasing financial inclusion and reducing cash transactions.
According to INTERPOL, cybercrime has evolved beyond isolated incidents into what it describes as an industrialized criminal ecosystem operating across national borders.
“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,” said Neal Jetton, Director of INTERPOL’s Cybercrime Directorate.
“However, we see that when countries work together, cybercriminal infrastructure can be identified, disrupted and dismantled.”
Cybercrime losses more than doubled
The report says the financial cost of cybercrime across Africa has risen sharply.
Since 2024, reported cybercrime-related losses have increased from US$192 million to US$484 million, driven largely by AI-assisted scams, credential theft and automated social engineering attacks.
Online scams remained the continent’s most frequently reported cybercrime in 2025, with criminals exploiting mobile money platforms, social media networks and AI-generated content to reach victims.
INTERPOL also found that 72% of surveyed African countries reported the presence of scam centres, with the highest concentration in Southern and West Africa.
Beyond financial fraud, investigators warned that cybercriminals are increasingly creating AI-generated synthetic identities by combining genuine personal information with fabricated details.
According to the report, these digital identities have been used to open bank accounts, obtain mobile loans and register SIM cards while bypassing some biometric verification systems.
The assessment also highlights a rise in AI-enabled business email compromise schemes, where criminals generate highly convincing emails to deceive companies into transferring money or disclosing sensitive information.
Digital sextortion and online harassment are also becoming more sophisticated through the use of AI-generated deepfakes and synthetic media. INTERPOL cited data from cybersecurity partner TrendAI showing approximately 600,000 sextortion detections linked to such activity.
Growing digital economy raises stakes
The report notes that Africa recorded more than 1.1 billion mobile subscribers in 2025, reflecting the continent’s accelerating digital transformation.
However, it warns that cybercrime legislation remains fragmented across many African countries and that law enforcement agencies generally lack sufficient AI capabilities and digital forensic resources to keep pace with rapidly evolving threats.
Among the report’s recommendations are stronger cross-border cooperation, standardized digital forensic capabilities, greater AI training for investigators and improved real-time information sharing between banks, telecommunications companies and law enforcement agencies to detect and prevent financial fraud more effectively.
INTERPOL said coordinated operations conducted in 2025 including Operations Serengeti 2.0, Contender 3.0, Sentinel and Red Card 2.0 resulted in more than 1,500 arrests, the seizure of hundreds of electronic devices and the recovery of over US$100 million linked to cybercrime investigations across Africa.
For Burundi, the findings highlight the importance of strengthening cybersecurity safeguards as the country continues expanding digital payments and financial technology, with mobile money services playing an increasingly important role in everyday commerce and financial inclusion across East Africa.
