South Africa’s iGaming fraud more than tripled in the second half of 2025, even after the country was removed from the Financial Action Task Force greylist last October.
According to ITWeb, Sumsub’s 2026 iGaming Fraud Report described the rise as “the kind of curve that is worth keeping an eye on” and said South Africa’s know-your-client and anti-money-laundering tools remain fragmented. South Africa had been placed on the greylist in February 2023 over deficiencies in its AML and counter-terrorism financing framework, then exited after completing 22 reforms.
Sumsub says Africa recorded the highest iGaming fraud rate of any region analysed, at 2.54%, based on more than 3 million fraud attempts and millions of identity verification checks collected between 2024 and the first quarter of 2026.
The company says fraud across Africa fell temporarily during 2025 before rebounding sharply in early 2026, making the region the single largest contributor to the global rise in iGaming fraud. Globally, fraud rates rose nearly 18% year on year, suspicious transactions increased more than 4.5 times, and the average suspicious transaction value climbed above $6,500.
Across Africa, 97% of detected fraud was intercepted during the liveness stage, the facial biometrics check that compares the person seeking access with the legitimate identity on the account or document.
Jarryd Jensen told ITWeb that fraudsters are using AI tools that are now more readily available and cost-effective to produce deepfake ID documents and other forged material. He said advanced verification, risk monitoring and transaction monitoring are needed throughout the customer journey because humans cannot keep up with the pace of change.
Jensen also said Africa’s rapid digital adoption has attracted more sophisticated fraud actors, who are moving beyond simple document forgery and stolen identities toward AI-assisted content and coordinated fraud networks targeting digital platforms.
The regional picture was uneven. Côte d’Ivoire moved to the top spot year on year, followed by Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, while Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda showed declining fraud trends toward the end of 2025, although levels remained high.
The report lands as online gambling continues to grow in South Africa. National Treasury put gross gambling revenue at R74.5 billion in 2024/25, up 25.6% from a year earlier, while the South African Reserve Bank said digital betting’s share of total betting revenue rose from 80.7% to 85.5%.
That shift has pushed banks and compliance teams toward behavioural analytics and machine-learning tools that flag deviations from normal patterns. A May BioCatch survey found 74% of South African banking leaders saw behavioural monitoring as highly valuable for spotting coerced or high-risk behaviour.
