Nigeria may be making progress in tackling fraud in the fast-growing online gaming industry, but the country remains part of a continent that has become the world’s biggest hotspot for iGaming fraud as criminals increasingly deploy artificial intelligence and stolen identities to beat security systems.
That is the key finding of the Sumsub iGaming Fraud Report 2026, which showed that while fraud levels in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda declined towards the end of 2025, Africa still recorded the highest iGaming fraud rate globally in the first quarter of 2026, about 66 per cent higher than the global average.
The report suggests that Nigeria’s improving trend reflects growing investments in digital identity verification and fraud controls by operators. However, it also warns that no market is insulated because fraudsters are changing tactics faster than many businesses can respond.
According to the report, Africa’s iGaming fraud rate reached 2.54 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, more than double the rates recorded in Europe and Latin America, and far above North America. The findings are based on more than three million fraud attempts and millions of identity verification checks conducted between 2024 and the first quarter of 2026.
The report comes at a time when Africa’s digital economy is expanding rapidly, with increasing smartphone adoption, mobile payments and online entertainment creating new opportunities for businesses. But the same growth is also attracting organised cybercriminals seeking to exploit weak identity systems and digital platforms.
One of the report’s most significant findings is that criminals are abandoning fake identity documents in favour of genuine stolen identities.
According to Sumsub, about 97 per cent of fraud detected across Africa is now intercepted during facial biometric or liveness checks, indicating that fraudsters are increasingly using real identity information obtained through data breaches, social engineering attacks and other illegal channels instead of forged documents.
The report also warns that artificial intelligence is making the problem worse.
Kris Galloway, iGaming product evangelist at Sumsub, said fraud groups are increasingly using AI-generated faces, edited identity documents, synthetic identities and automated applications to overwhelm verification systems.
“AI dramatically lowers the cost and effort required to commit fraud at scale, and professional fraud groups are already taking advantage of it,” Galloway said.
Beyond identity fraud, suspicious financial transactions are also rising sharply. Globally, fraud rates increased by nearly 18 per cent year-on-year, while suspicious transactions rose more than fourfold and the average suspicious transaction exceeded $6,500.
Although Nigeria recorded improving fraud trends alongside Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, other African countries remain major hotspots.
Côte d’Ivoire recorded the continent’s highest fraud rate at 7.8 per cent, followed by Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. South Africa also emerged as a growing concern after fraud levels more than tripled during the second half of 2025.
Industry analysts say the report highlights an important shift in Africa’s digital economy. As more financial services, gaming platforms,s and digital businesses move online, fraud is becoming less about forged documents and more about exploiting real people’s identities using advanced technologies.
For Nigeria, the report presents both encouragement and a warning. While the country’s improving trend suggests investments in verification technology may be paying off, rising AI-powered fraud means digital platforms cannot rely on traditional Know Your Customer (KYC) checks alone.
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Jarryd Jensen, regional director for Southern Africa at Sumsub, said operators need to adopt broader fraud prevention systems that combine identity verification, behavioural analysis, device intelligence and transaction monitoring throughout a customer’s lifecycle.
He noted that companies able to balance strong security with seamless customer experience would be better positioned to protect revenue, comply with regulations and retain customer trust.
The report concludes that as Africa’s digital economy continues to expand, trust may become as important as technology. Countries that strengthen digital identity systems and deploy smarter fraud detection tools are likely to gain a competitive advantage, while those that fail to keep pace could face rising financial losses and weakening consumer confidence.
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