Yazi Study Says 20% of South Africans Lost Money to Fraud

In Short

Yazi released findings from its Global Digital Fraud Study that show a high share of South Africans are affected by fraud, and many still lose money even when they know common warning signs.

What Happened: Findings From Yazi’s Global Digital Fraud Study

Yazi says its study found that 85% of South Africans were impacted by fraud in the past 12 months.

In the same research, 20% of South African respondents said they lost money to fraud. That compares with 7% of UK consumers in the study, which Yazi describes as roughly three times as many.

The report also highlights the size of losses for people with less income. Among South Africa’s lowest income fraud victims, the median loss equalled 40% of one month’s household income.

Yazi says awareness is not the main issue. The study found that 74% of South Africans already know that AI can be used to clone voices and fake messages, and that awareness made almost no difference to risky behaviour in the study.

Yazi adds that once fraud succeeds, recovery is rare. The study found that 75% of South African fraud victims recovered none of the money they lost.

The study is based on 1,284 responses from South Africa and the United Kingdom. Yazi says it combined structured survey data with hundreds of voice notes, and also used AI moderated follow-up interviews.

“The study combined structured quantitative questions, open text responses, voice notes and AI moderated follow-up interviews. We wanted to understand fraud from the consumer’s side, not only count incidents after the money had already disappeared. What the study told us is that when fraud succeeds, the financial and emotional cost can be disproportionately severe” states Tim Treagus, CEO of Yazi.

Why It Matters

The findings suggest that fraud prevention efforts that focus only on consumer education may not be enough in South Africa.

Yazi also reports that 64% of affected South Africans believe bank or institution staff may be complicit in fraud, compared with 17% in the UK. That perception, alongside low recovery rates, points to deeper trust and enforcement gaps that can affect the whole digital economy, including online banking and payments.