According to TransUnion’s H1 2026 update on Tuesday, South Africa had the highest rate of suspected digital fraud among African countries analysed, with 3.0% of transactions involving consumers in South Africa being suspected of digital fraud during 2025 – slightly below the global average of 3.
TransUnion's report said that in 2025, the median reported fraud loss among South African consumers who said that they had lost funds to digital fraud (email, online, phone call and text messages) in the previous year was R11,055 – the second highest in Africa after Kenya and well below the global median of R27,879.
The report indicated that South Africa’s digital fraud landscape has become more complex, with generative AI likely accelerating the scale and sophistication of criminal activity. “This has enabled fraudsters to target both consumers and businesses with greater precision and speed.”
The report said that South African consumers are increasingly facing co-ordinated, identity-driven and cross-channel attacks similar to those seen in mature digital economies.
“As a result, digital fraud has shifted deeper into the consumer journey: one third (33%) of South African consumers who said they lost money from digital fraud in the last year reported those losses stemmed from third-party seller scams on legitimate ecommerce platforms," it said.
