Interpol says AI tools are linked to 55% of reported cybercrime across Africa

AI tools were linked to 55% of reported cybercrime cases across Africa over the past year, according to Interpol’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026. The assessment drew on data from 36 of the agency’s African member countries.

Cybercrime-related financial losses on the continent more than doubled, from $192 million in 2024 to $484 million in 2025, the report said. Interpol framed the jump as evidence that generative AI is lowering the skill and cost barriers to fraud, scams and extortion.

Neal Jetton, who directs Interpol’s cybercrime unit, said AI is automating every stage of an attack, from reconnaissance and phishing to extortion and evasion. The report points to concrete harms: TrendAI, a technology partner, detected roughly 600,000 sextortion cases involving AI-generated deepfakes, and 72% of the surveyed countries reported scam centers operating within their borders.

Enforcement is scaling in response, if unevenly. Four coordinated operations led to more than 1,500 arrests and the recovery of over $100 million, and 17 African countries enacted or amended cybercrime legislation in 2025, the report said.

The figures come with caveats. They rest on self-reported data from member states rather than an independent audit, coverage varies by country, and the 55% share reflects cases where AI was identified, not necessarily where it was decisive. The deepfake and sextortion tallies come from a single technology partner and have not been separately verified.

Whether the doubling in losses is a one-year spike or the start of a trend will depend on the next assessment — and on whether the arrests and new laws blunt the economics that make AI-assisted fraud pay.