South Africans are facing an increasingly complex wave of digital fraud, with consumers and financial institutions losing an estimated R2 billion during 2025.
According to TransUnion’s latest Top Fraud Trends report, South Africa recorded the highest rate of suspected digital fraud among the African markets analysed. The findings reveal that cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated, increasingly targeting consumers through trusted platforms, legitimate services and existing digital relationships.
The report found that 3.0% of transactions involving South African consumers were flagged as suspected digital fraud during 2025. While this figure remains below the global average of 3.8%, it represents one of the highest levels of digital fraud activity on the continent.
For victims, the financial consequences have been significant. South Africans who reported losing money to digital fraud experienced a median loss of R11,055 per incident, making it the second-highest fraud loss figure in Africa.
Fraudsters Exploiting Trusted Platforms and Existing Accounts
One of the most concerning findings is that many scams no longer originate from obviously suspicious websites or fraudulent online services.
Instead, criminals are increasingly embedding themselves within platforms that consumers already trust. Around 33% of South Africans who reported losing money to digital fraud said they were targeted through third-party seller scams operating on legitimate e-commerce platforms.
According to TransUnion, this reflects a major shift in cybercrime tactics. Rather than relying on unsafe environments, fraudsters are successfully exploiting trusted ecosystems where consumers feel comfortable conducting transactions.
The report also found that account takeovers have become a preferred strategy for cybercriminals. South Africa is among the few markets where suspected fraud is most commonly detected during account login attempts rather than during account creation or payment transactions.
Approximately 3.0% of login attempts were flagged as potentially fraudulent, compared with 2.4% of account registrations and just 0.7% of financial transactions.
Experts say this indicates that criminals are increasingly targeting existing customer relationships and verified identities rather than attempting to create fake profiles from scratch.
SMS Scams Continue to Cost Consumers Thousands
TransUnion Africa senior director of fraud product management Amritha Reddy warned that rapidly evolving technology is making scams more convincing and difficult to detect.
She urged consumers to protect their personal information, monitor financial accounts regularly and review credit reports for suspicious activity.
Meanwhile, Venture Labs CEO Dirk de Vos said fraud has become a multi-billion-rand problem affecting both consumers and financial institutions.
Speaking to Newzroom Afrika, De Vos estimated that fraud cost South African banks approximately R2 billion during 2025.
He highlighted a case involving a victim who lost R187,000 after receiving what appeared to be a legitimate SMS from their bank.
According to De Vos, criminals can access relatively inexpensive bulk messaging services that allow them to spoof trusted sender identities. As a result, fraudulent messages often appear within the same conversation thread as genuine banking notifications.
This makes it significantly more difficult for consumers to identify fake messages.
De Vos argued that many of these scams exploit vulnerabilities within mobile messaging systems rather than weaknesses in banking platforms themselves.
As digital fraud evolves, experts warn that consumer awareness remains one of the most effective defences against increasingly sophisticated scams. South Africans are encouraged to verify suspicious communications directly with their banks and avoid acting on unexpected requests involving account information, verification codes or money transfers.
Source: TransUnion Top Fraud Trends Report 2025 and Newzroom Afrika