TransUnion Report: South Africa Tops Africa Digital Fraud

In Short

• A new TransUnion report flags South Africa as the highest suspected digital fraud market among African countries analysed in 2025.
• 3.0% of consumer transactions were flagged as potentially fraudulent, down from 4.3% in 2024.
• The report says the drop may reflect smarter, AI-assisted fraud, not less fraud.

What's Going On: TransUnion Digital Fraud Trends In South Africa

TransUnion data shows South Africa had the highest suspected digital fraud rate in Africa in 2025. The report, TransUnion H1 2026 Update: Top Fraud Trends, says 3.0% of consumer transactions were flagged as potentially fraudulent.

That is below the global average of 3.8%. It is also a decline from 2024, when the suspected fraud rate was 4.3%.

TransUnion cautions that lower flagged rates do not automatically mean criminals are doing less. It may mean fraud attempts are becoming harder to detect and more targeted.

A key driver is generative AI, which is AI that can produce realistic text, voice, or images (like a convincing fake message or call script). The report says this can help fraudsters operate at greater scale while improving precision.

What Happened: Login Fraud And Account Takeovers Lead

South Africa also stands out for where suspected fraud concentrates. In 2025, 3.0% of account login attempts were flagged as potentially fraudulent.

That compares to 2.4% at account creation and 0.7% during financial transactions. This points to account takeover attempts, where attackers try to access an existing user account using stolen passwords or SIM swaps (when criminals hijack a phone number to intercept one-time passwords).

Why It Matters: Higher Risk For Banks, Telcos, And Fintech

Login-stage fraud can affect many services at once, including banking apps, e-commerce accounts, and payment tools. For African fintechs and online merchants, it raises the need for stronger authentication, better monitoring, and user education.

For consumers, losses remain meaningful. The median reported fraud loss in South Africa was R11,055, second highest in Africa after Kenya, and below the global median of R27,879.