Artificial intelligence is transforming cybercrime across Africa, enabling fraudsters to launch faster, more sophisticated and harder-to-detect attacks, according to the International Criminal Police Organisation.
INTERPOL disclosed this in its African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, released on Monday, revealing that 55 per cent of reported cybercrimes across Africa are now AI-enabled.
The report, based on survey responses from 36 African member countries, said cybercrime had evolved from isolated criminal acts into an industrialised, borderless ecosystem powered by artificial intelligence.
“Cyber-criminality has evolved from isolated incidents into an industrialized, borderless ecosystem,” the report stated.
It added that AI has become a major enabler of cybercrime, making attacks “faster, more scalable, and increasingly difficult for victims and platforms to detect.”
The report noted that cybercrime-related financial losses across the continent have more than doubled since 2024, rising from $192m to $484m, driven largely by AI-assisted scams, credential theft and automated social engineering campaigns.
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