Kenya leads Africa in digital fraud incidents; Report
A recent report by TransUnion Africa, which surveyed several African Nations, has revealed that Kenya tops the list for the most digital fraud incidents on the continent
A recent report by TransUnion Africa, which surveyed several African Nations, has revealed that Kenya tops the list for the most digital fraud incidents on the continent between August and December 2024.
According to the report, 82 percent of Kenyans claimed that they had been targeted by fraudsters through email, online, by phone call, or by text message during this period. According to the individuals, the fraudsters tried to use these techniques to persuade them to share their data.
Despite the majority of individuals claiming that they did not fall for the trap, 11 per cent of them admitted that they fell victim to the fraudsters and ended up losing money, especially through third-party seller scams on legitimate online retail websites.
According to TransUnion, a typical Kenyan fraud victim loses about Ksh117,000 per incident.
“Third-party seller scams top the list, with 34 percent reporting losses—the highest across all countries surveyed. Significant losses were also reported to unemployment fraud (26 percent), account takeovers (25 percent), and social engineering scams (22 percent),” the report stated.
“19 percent of Kenyan respondents indicated that they were not aware of being targeted by email, online, phone call, or text messaging fraud at all, which raises questions as to whether these respondents were in fact targeted, yet simply unaware of the threat,” it added.
Amritha Reddy, Senior Director of Fraud Solutions at TransUnion Africa, attributed this trend to the accelerating rate of Kenyans purchasing digital devices to run their day-to-day activities.
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The survey, which involved 500 people in Kenya, 1,000 in South Africa, 308 in Namibia, 411 in Zambia, and 361 individuals in Rwanda, was conducted from November 21 to December 11, 2025.
“Kenya has a 133.7 percent mobile phone penetration rate, with people using mobile phones to conduct their everyday business, connect with friends, or keep in touch with family, so it’s easy to understand why digital fraud would be such a common tactic among fraudsters targeting this region,” Reddy said.
“While cybercriminals will attack at any time using any channel, they appear to focus on channels most popular in the regions they are targeting,” she added.
After being contacted by fraudsters, the report claims that the majority of Kenyans opted to either place a fraud alert or engage credit report providers; however, some did not take any action, signalling the lack of fraud awareness.
However, according to TransUnion, despite the country showing a decline in digital fraud in the past four years, there is a need for Public awareness and education to ensure that the public is well cognisant of the techniques fraudsters use, how to identify them, and the measures they should erect to prevent such incidents from recurring.
“Across African markets, most fraud victims took active steps to limit further risk—but responses varied by country, shaped by access to credit tools, financial literacy, and trust in resolution channels,” the report read.
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