Smile ID has released its 2025 Digital Identity Fraud in Africa Report, highlighting critical fraud trends across the continent.
The Smile ID report reveals that East Africa recorded the highest rejection rate for combined biometric and document verification attempts, reaching 27% in 2024. This is primarily due to the reliance on outdated, inconsistent, and poor-quality identity documents, which hindered the verification processes.
The report relied on anonymised data from over 110 million identity verification checks conducted by Smile ID across Central, East, West, and Southern Africa in 2024. It uncovered sophisticated fraud tactics exploiting vulnerabilities in fintech platforms and digital ecosystems, accelerated by emerging technologies such as Generative AI, deepfakes, and insider-assisted schemes. Document fraud remains one of the most persistent forms of identity fraud in Africa, evolving with advancements in technology and increased reliance on digital verification.
As the first Identity Fraud study to comprehensively address fraud trends across Africa, the fraud report highlights ongoing challenges and opportunities on the continent. As the first Identity Fraud study to comprehensively address fraud trends across Africa, Smile ID’s second edition highlights ongoing challenges and opportunities on the continent. The widespread adoption of biometric verification over traditional textual methods has significantly strengthened fraud prevention, driving the overall fraud rate during KYC checks down to 25% in 2024 (a 4% decrease). However, this year-over-year progress has prompted fraudsters to develop more sophisticated attack methods targeting biometric systems, resulting in millions of dollars in fraud losses across key African markets. Despite improvements in KYC processes, overall fraud losses escalated in key African markets, including Kenya, where one of the country’s largest lenders lost KSh 1.5 billion to fraud, according to reports. Smile ID continues to tackle unique threats African businesses face when onboarding users, such as identity farming, insider-assisted account takeovers, and advanced document forgeries.
Key findings from the 2025 Digital Identity Fraud in Africa report also include:
1. West Africa’s rejection rate significantly increased to 22%, aligning with Central Africa’s, while Southern Africa saw its document and biometric verification fraud rates more than double, climbing to 21%.
2. Biometric fraud attempts are steadily increasing, reaching a quarterly average of 16%—the highest recorded in the past three years.
3. Authentication attempts showed four times higher fraud rates compared to registration, indicating a significant rise in account takeover risks.
4. Across all African regions, fraudulent activities concentrated between 10 PM and 6 AM EAT, peaking at 2 AM EAT.
5. Fraud detection through Mobile SDKs accounted for 68% of all cases, compared to 32% from other integrations.
The full 2025 Digital Identity Fraud in Africa report can be downloaded for free here.