Interpol warns AI now powers more than half of cybercrime cases in Africa

Artificial intelligence has undoubtedly reshaped the cybercrime landscape, giving criminals powerful tools to launch more convincing, scalable, and sophisticated attacks. According to Interpol's 2026 African Cyberthreat Assessment Report, AI now plays a role in 55% of reported cybercrime cases across Africa, highlighting just how quickly threat actors have embraced the technology.

Key takeaways

• AI is involved in 55% of reported cybercrime incidents across Africa.
• Reported cybercrime losses have surged from $192 million in 2024 to $484 million in the past two years.
• Online scams remain the most commonly reported cybercrime.
• Criminal groups are increasingly using AI to automate attacks, improve social engineering, and create more convincing fraudulent content.

Interpol's latest assessment paints a picture of a rapidly evolving threat landscape fueled by AI and organized cybercrime. While the report focuses on Africa, the findings should concern internet users everywhere. Cybercriminals operate across borders, and the AI tools used to target victims in one region can just as easily be deployed against consumers, businesses, and content creators worldwide.

The report also notes that many law enforcement agencies continue to face challenges keeping pace with criminals' adoption of AI technologies, making prevention and public awareness crucial.

AI-enabled cybercrime threats vary across Africa

“Cybercriminals are now deploying AI-powered tools to automate phishing campaigns, generate convincing deepfakes for identity fraud and social engineering, create synthetic identities for financial fraud, and evade detection by traditional signature-based security systems,” the report notes.

While artificial intelligence is helping criminals scale attacks across the continent, Interpol notes that cybercrime trends vary by region, driven by technology adoption, economic activity, and digital infrastructure.

East Africa, for example, has become a hotspot for mobile money fraud and ransomware attacks targeting critical infrastructure, according to the law enforcement agency. In Central and West Africa,  business email compromise (BEC) and romance scams remain among the most prevalent threats, while Southern Africa’s high rate of internet connectivity and digital adoption attracts international cybercriminal groups seeking maximum disruption.

Interpol's member country survey also found that:

• Online scams, including phishing (17%) remain the most commonly reported form of cybercrime across Africa. AI is helping criminals produce convincing phishing emails, fake websites, and fraudulent messages at an unprecedented scale.
• Identity theft and financial fraud (14%) continue to affect individuals and organizations, with stolen credentials increasingly harvested through AI-assisted phishing and social engineering.
• Sextortion, revenge porn, cyberbullying, and online harassment (14%) represent another significant category. Criminals are increasingly using AI-generated images, voice cloning, and deepfake technology to manipulate or extort victims.
• Data breaches (11%) expose sensitive personal and business information that can later be used in phishing, identity theft, and account takeover attacks.
• Business email compromise (BEC) (10%) remains one of the costliest cybercrimes. AI enables attackers to write highly convincing emails that closely mimic executives, suppliers, or trusted business partners.
• Other reported threats include ransomware and banking trojans (7%), attacks on critical infrastructure (6%), illicit online marketplaces and human trafficking (5%), distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks (4%), and cryptojacking (4%).

Although the statistics come from Africa, cybercrime is a global business.

Many cybercriminal organizations operate internationally, targeting victims wherever they find opportunities. The phishing campaigns, deepfake scams, credential theft operations, and investment fraud described in the report are already affecting consumers across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

The best way to reduce your risk of falling victim to these scams is by combining a few practical habits with comprehensive security:

• Verify unexpected requests. If you receive an email, text, or phone call asking for money, login credentials, or sensitive information, don't act immediately. Contact the sender through another trusted channel to confirm the request.
• Use AI to fight AI. If you're unsure whether a message, email, social media post, QR code, or website is legitimate, ask Bitdefender Scamio. This free AI-powered scam detector analyzes suspicious content and helps you identify phishing attempts, impersonation scams, fake investment offers, and other online fraud before you engage.
• Check suspicious links before clicking. AI-generated phishing emails often contain malicious URLs that look legitimate. Use Bitdefender Link Checker for free to scan links and uncover potential threats before visiting a website.
• Question what you see and hear. AI-generated voices, images, and videos are increasingly realistic. If someone claims to be a friend, family member, or colleague and requests urgent action, verify their identity by making a separate phone call or using another trusted method.
• Protect your online identity. Data exposed in breaches can be used to personalize AI-powered scams. Bitdefender Digital Identity Protection monitors your digital footprint and alerts you if your personal information is exposed online, allowing you to act before criminals exploit it.
• Secure your devices with AI-powered protection. Modern security solutions use artificial intelligence to detect phishing attempts, malicious websites, ransomware, and emerging threats before they can compromise your devices. Bitdefender Premium Security combines real-time protection with advanced AI-driven threat detection and scam protection to help keep you safe against today's evolving cyber threats.
• If you run a small business, strengthen your defenses. AI-powered phishing emails and business email compromise attacks are increasingly targeting organizations of all sizes, not just large enterprises. Bitdefender Ultimate Small Business Security helps protect your business with multi-layered security against phishing, ransomware, credential theft, and other cyber threats, giving you peace of mind while you focus on running your business.