The report finds that AI has rapidly reduced the cost, while increasing the scalability and quality of deepfake fraud.

In addition, as identity becomes part of the fabric of many essential applications, fraudsters increasingly attack the online ID capture pipeline itself, manipulating devices, operating systems, and verification sessions to try and bypass verification technology.

In 2025, nearly 90% of fraud blocked by Smile ID was triggered by mobile SDK signals rather than image analysis alone.

This reflects a decisive shift away from pure visual deception toward capture integrity.

How and where an identity is verified now matters as much as the image presented. In 2025, Smile ID saw more than 100,000 injection-style fraud attempts per month linked to emulators, virtual cameras, and manipulated environments, showing a shift from visual spoofing toward systematic interference with the ID verification process.

Authentication-related fraud attempts now exceed onboarding fraud by more than five times, confirming that identity risk has moved towards authentication.

Attackers are no longer focused on breaking in; they are operating within verified accounts, targeting login flows, account recovery, device changes, and high-value transactions.

AI-enabled automations allow attackers to reuse verified biometrics, take over accounts mid-journey, and move funds across platforms at scale.

This shift has transformed digital fraud from isolated cases of document manipulation into more sophisticated attacks by criminal networks abusing the structural vulnerabilities of mobile-first digital systems.

The findings are based on anonymised data from more than 200 million identity verification checks conducted in 2025 by Smile ID, spanning 37 industries in over 35 countries.

As shared infrastructure, Smile ID identifies systemic fraud patterns that transcend individual institutions. As it identifies risk and fraud signals, its machines and analysts add signals to its dynamic defense network, creating a network defence that protects all of its clients.

By leveraging a combination of traditional algorithms, controlled capture methods, and internally tuned LLMs, Smile ID’s privacy-preserving metadata surfaced hundreds of thousands of examples of coordinated abuse that otherwise may appear legitimate in isolation.

Key findings from the 2026 Digital Identity Fraud Report also include:

• Authentication fraud attempts are now 5x more common than at onboarding 
• Nearly 90% of fraud blocked by Smile ID in 2025 was triggered by mobile SDK signals, up from 68% in 2024
• Duplicate attempts those re-using stolen or fraudulent identity data, more than doubled year over year, and nearly tripled the combined prior 2023 & 2024 total.
• Deepfake-driven fraud is rising, with AI-generated biometric attacks appearing across multiple markets and industries, enabled by radically affordable tooling
• Injection attacks which bypass the camera entirely using synthetic or pre-recorded media, have been elevated to a central threat category in 2026

Mark Straub, CEO of Smile ID, said,

“Fraud is no longer a ‘KYC’ problem, it is a continuous cybersecurity challenge. AI enables fraudsters to operate at unprecedented scale and sophistication. Effective defence now requires network intelligence: By leveraging these privacy-preserving indicators throughout the customer lifecycle, we enable real-time adaptation. Identity has entered the security era, where ecosystem-wide protection is essential to safeguarding the individual.”

The Report can be found here.

The report paints a sobering picture of a new battlefield where artificial intelligence has commoditized deepfake fraud, making it more affordable, scalable, and difficult to detect than ever before.

The Great Shift: From Spoofing to Systemic Interference

The most startling revelation in the 2026 report is the pivot from visual deception to capture integrity. Fraudsters are no longer just wearing masks or holding up photos; they are attacking the very pipeline of ID capture.

In 2025, Smile ID recorded over 100,000 injection-style fraud attempts per month. These attacks involve using emulators and virtual cameras to bypass the device’s physical camera entirely, feeding pre-recorded or synthetic media directly into the verification session.

Key Data Point:

Nearly 90% of fraud blocked by Smile ID in 2025 was triggered by mobile SDK signals (device and environment metadata) rather than just image analysis. This is a significant jump from 68% in 2024.

Authentication is the New Onboarding

The report highlights a critical shift in the fraud lifecycle. Attackers are moving away from “breaking in” via new accounts and are now focusing on “operating within” verified accounts.

According to the data, authentication-related fraud attempts now exceed onboarding fraud by more than five times. Cybercriminals are targeting high-value “mid-journey” actions, such as:

• Login flows and device changes.
• Account recovery.
• Large fund transfers and high-value transactions.

AI-Enabled Criminal Networks

The report warns that AI is not just a tool for creating deepfakes; it is an engine for automation. Criminal networks are now using AI to reuse verified biometrics and take over accounts at scale, exploiting structural vulnerabilities in mobile-first digital systems across 37 industries.

Furthermore, duplicate attempts, the reuse of stolen or fraudulent identity data, more than doubled year-over-year in 2025, nearly tripling the combined totals of 2023 and 2024.

A Network Defense for a Shared Problem

Drawing from a dataset of over 200 million verification checks across 35 countries, Smile ID is advocating for a networked approach to security.

By leveraging internally tuned Large Language Models (LLMs) and traditional algorithms, the company identifies coordinated abuse patterns that might look legitimate to a single institution but appear fraudulent when viewed across a broader ecosystem.

Mark Straub, CEO of Smile ID, emphasized that identity risk is no longer a one-time check.

“Fraud is no longer a ‘KYC’ problem, it is a continuous cybersecurity challenge,” Straub noted. “Effective defense now requires network intelligence. Identity has entered the security era, where ecosystem-wide protection is essential to safeguarding the individual.”

2026 Snapshot: The Fraud Landscape

• Authentication vs. Onboarding: Authentication fraud is 5x more common than onboarding fraud.
• Signal-Based Detection: 90% of fraud caught via SDK signals, up from 68%.
• Data Recirculation: Stolen identity reuse more than doubled YoY.
• Top Threat: Injection attacks (bypassing the camera) are now a central threat category.

The findings by Smile ID confirm that Africa’s digital economy is maturing into a high-stakes environment. As identity becomes the fabric of essential services, the cost of a breach is no longer just a lost account, but the erosion of trust in digital systems.

For fintechs and telcos, the message is clear: If you are only looking at the face, you are missing the fraud.

The full 2026 Digital Identity Fraud Report can be downloaded for free here.

Through this collaboration, banks, fintechs, mobile money operators, and other enterprises will be able to onboard customers more quickly while reducing identity fraud and widening access to the financial system.

The partnership brings together Mastercard’s global expertise in identity technology with Smile ID’s robust data verification and fraud detection capabilities, creating a stronger framework for trusted digital interactions.

Addressing Africa’s Fraud & Inclusion Gap

As Africa’s digital economy is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, trusted identity solutions are a critical enabler of financial inclusion, fraud prevention, and cross-border commerce. Additionally, smartphone penetration is continuing to rise, necessitating an urgent need to unlock opportunities for millions through secure identity verification services that work across digital channels.

For over five decades, Mastercard has worked alongside African governments, businesses, and communities to advance financial inclusion and economic development.

Mastercard, together with Smile ID, is well positioned to address these challenges by expanding access to financial services, while helping to support compliance with Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations across Africa.

As part of the agreement, Mastercard has also made a minority investment in Smile ID, reinforcing its long-term commitment to digital inclusion and innovation in Africa.

“This partnership with Smile ID is a pivotal step in advancing digital trust and inclusion across Africa. As fragmented identity systems slow down businesses and lock millions out of the digital economy, Smile ID’s innovative identity platform complements Mastercard’s commitment to fostering secure and inclusive digital ecosystems,” said Selin Bahadirli, Executive Vice President, Services, Mastercard EEMEA.

Through this partnership, Mastercard customers, including banks, telecom providers, mobile money operators, and fintechs can gain access to Smile ID’s advanced identity verification tools. These tools will be integrated into Mastercard’s digital platforms, assisting the enablement of:

• Instant, secure onboarding of users across all African markets.
• Enhanced fraud detection and prevention, including synthetic identity fraud.
• Compliance with local and international KYC/AML regulations.
• Scalable solutions for cross-border commerce and digital expansion.

Smile ID’s integrations with local governments and trusted data sources offer unique capabilities that differentiate this partnership in the region, for example, pan-African reach, near real-time onboarding, integration with Mastercard’s insights.

“The surge in synthetic identity fraud in Africa is costing banks and lenders hundreds of millions of dollars a year,” said Mark Straub, CEO of Smile ID. “By joining forces with Mastercard we can help turn the tide. As we combine insights and technologies, we can expand opportunities for consumers by giving banks and mobile wallets the confidence to onboard the next 300 million African users securely, in seconds.”

• West Africa reported a 22% rejection rate, rising sharply from 12% in 2023, driven by a surge in biometric fraud cases
• Spoofing incidents surged, accounting for 15% of West Africa’s biometric fraud rates, compared to under 5% the previous year.
• Fraud remained stable for most of 2024, with a significant surge in October that continued to rise through the year’s end.
• Fraudulent activities in the region peaked at 10 PM WAT [9 PM GMT]
• Financial sector leads in fraud exposure as digital banks recorded peak fraud attempts at 35% of all biometric and document verifications in 2024, followed by microfinance at 30%.

A new report by Smile ID,  identity verification solutions provider, has highlighted critical fraud trends across Africa.

The 2025 Digital Identity Fraud in Africa Report reveals that West Africa recorded the highest number of biometric fraud rates in 2024, driven by a rise in spoof attempts soaring from 15% compared to under 5% in 2023.

This significant increase reflects a growing reliance on biometric verification methods and the sophisticated tactics bad actors employ to exploit vulnerabilities.

The report offers clear, actionable strategies to help leaders safeguard trust, revenue, and operational stability in 2025.

Drawing on anonymised data from over 110 million identity verification checks conducted by Smile ID across Central, East, West, and Southern Africa in 2024, the report highlights ongoing challenges and opportunities.

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-percentage-point 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.

Nigerian banks reported N42.6 billion in fraud losses in Q2 2024 alone, surpassing the total N9.4 billion losses recorded in all of 2023, according to the FITC.

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:

• East Africa reported the highest biometric and document rejection rates at 27%. Central Africa matched West Africa at 22%, while Southern Africa recorded a 21% rejection rate.
• Biometric fraud attempts are steadily increasing, reaching a quarterly average of 16%—the highest recorded in the past three years.
• Authentication attempts showed four times higher fraud rates compared to registration, indicating a significant rise in account takeover risks.
• Across all African regions, fraudulent activities concentrated between 8 PM and 4 AM WAT, peaking at 12 AM WAT.

Speaking on the report, Mark Straub, CEO of Smile ID, said:

“The future of fraud prevention lies in adaptability. While AI provides fraudsters with powerful new tools, it also helps security practitioners harness global intelligence to counter zero-day attacks and automate processes that were once manual.

“Fintech platforms with weak KYC protocols remain the most vulnerable, as these bad actors use identity farming to create fraudulent accounts that conceal the origins of illicit funds. Tackling these vulnerabilities requires collaboration between industries, governments, and technology providers to create a safer digital ecosystem.”

The report’s launch builds on the recent introduction of Enhanced SmartSelfie, an advanced biometric verification technology built to withstand advanced fraud attempts, including deepfakes, AI-generated faces, and replay videos. If paired with a unified approach, African businesses can secure their operations, build trust, and drive economic growth.

Founded in 2017, Smile ID has revolutionised identity verification in Africa, completing over 200 million verification checks by November 2024.

As the continent’s leading provider of digital identity verification, fraud detection, and KYC compliance solutions, the company delivers scalable, Africa-focused tools optimised for real-time onboarding, anti-fraud measures, and AI-driven identity verification.

Backed by investors like Costanoa Ventures and CRE Venture Capital, the company catalyses Africa’s digital economy by enabling businesses, governments, and individuals to build trust in underserved markets.

The full 2025 Digital Identity Fraud in Africa report can be downloaded for free here.