Africa Emerges as Global iGaming Fraud Epicenter

Sumsub’s iGaming Fraud Report 2026 shows Africa recorded the world’s highest iGaming fraud rate in Q1 2026, reaching 2.54% – about 66% above the global average and well above Europe (1.14%), Latin America (1.14%), North America (0.44%) and APAC (1.92%). Global fraud rose nearly 18% year‑on‑year, with suspicious transaction values exceeding $6,500.

The fraud in Africa is dominated by AI‑enabled identity misuse. Roughly 97% of fraudulent attempts are caught during the liveness (facial‑biometrics) check, indicating criminals are using real identity data – often stolen or socially engineered – rather than forged documents. Synthetic faces, edited documents and mass‑generated applications lower the cost of fraud at scale.

Regional hotspots include Côte d’Ivoire (7.8% fraud rate), Burkina Faso (5.6%), Cameroon (5.1%), Malawi (4.7%) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (4.3%). While Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda showed modest improvements late‑2025, South Africa’s fraud rate more than tripled in the second half of 2025. Fraud activity peaks between 2 pm and 8 pm GMT+2.

Sumsub warns operators that traditional KYC processes are insufficient and recommends multi‑layered, AI‑aware fraud‑prevention strategies to mitigate the growing threat.