South Africa had the highest rate of suspected digital fraud among African countries analysed, with 3% of transactions involving consumers in South Africa being suspected of digital fraud during 2025 – slightly below the global average of 3.8%.
These are among the findings in the TransUnion H1 2026 Update: Top Fraud Trends report, which shows South Africa’s digital fraud landscape has become more complex, with generative artificial intelligence (AI) likely accelerating the scale and sophistication of criminal activity.
According to the report, this has enabled fraudsters to target consumers and businesses with greater precision and speed.
It notes that in 2025, the median reported fraud loss among South African consumers who said that they had lost funds to digital fraud (e-mail, 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.
TransUnion notes 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, it explains, 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 e-commerce platforms.
This indicates that losses are not occurring because consumers transacted in a suspect or unsafe environment – but because fraudsters successfully embedded themselves into environments that appeared credible, familiar and trusted, says TransUnion.
“This signals a market where criminals are exploiting established trust, active accounts and verified digital relationships, and is a clear break from global fraud patterns typically dominated by phishing and vishing – fraudulent phone calls or voice messages designed to deceive consumers into sharing sensitive information or sending money,” says Amritha Reddy, senior director of fraud product management at TransUnion Africa.
“In South Africa, fraudsters succeed where trust is already established, particularly inside mainstream digital platforms where consumers reasonably expect safety and legitimacy.”
The survey shows SA is one of the few markets where the highest rate of suspected digital fraud attempts happen at account login, with 3% of account login attempts being flagged as potentially fraudulent, compared to 2.4% at account creation and 0.7% of financial transactions.
TransUnion notes this trend suggests attackers are increasingly trying to compromise existing accounts, in contrast to other countries globally where new account creation is a key focus for fraudsters.
“This inversion tells a powerful story that criminals in South Africa are now targeting access using compromised credentials, SIM-swap-enabled entry and social engineering to take over existing accounts,” says Reddy.
“This means that vendors and financial institutions need to expand their fraud prevention strategies beyond the new customer onboarding phase, continuing to implement verification throughout the consumer lifecycle – but without the unnecessary friction that will see genuine consumers seeking alternative sites.”
Findings from the survey also show that consumers’ most preferred top feature when choosing whom to transact with online is confidence that their personal data is secure, with 85% of respondents saying it was very important. This was followed by an easy payment process (80%) and ease of filling out forms or applications (72%).
“The fact that security is the top reported feature shows consumers are willing to accept friction when completing digital transactions, provided it’s clearly linked to protection,” Reddy says.
“As a result, security in South Africa is evolving beyond compliance and emerging as a key driver of brand trust and differentiation.”
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