Synthetic identities drive need for enhanced fraud prevention in Africa

A comprehensive new report from identity verification vendor Smile ID digs into critical digital identity fraud trends across Africa. A press release says the report “uncovers sophisticated fraud tactics exploiting vulnerabilities in fintech platforms and digital ecosystems, accelerated by emerging technologies such as Generative AI, deepfakes, and insider-assisted schemes.”

Biometrics emerges as a winner, with the report noting that “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 percent in 2024.”

That said, attack methods targeting biometric systems continue to evolve, and Smile ID notes techniques such as identity farming, insider-assisted account takeovers, and advanced document forgeries as emerging problems.

Mark Straub, CEO of Smile ID, says “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, which draws on anonymised data from over 110 million identity verification checks conducted by Smile ID across Central, East, West, and Southern Africa in 2024, reveals “significant regional variations in fraud methods across Africa.”

East Africa, which still relies heavily on documents, led on document fraud cases. West Africa “emerged as the epicentre of biometric fraud, showing the highest incidents of spoofing and face-match inconsistencies, with notable vulnerability to AI-powered fraud attempts.”

Deepfakes, synthetic ID mean liveness detection is a must: Juniper

A release says a new study from Juniper Research has revealed that the value of fraudulent eCommerce transactions for physical goods will reach US$10 billion globally in 2025 – up from US$8.8 billion last year.

The upward trend is driven in part by new developments in deepfakes and synthetic identities, which are driving the growth of remote physical goods fraud.

As such, Juniper says that liveness detection is now a necessity for effective fraud prevention and minimizing losses. Thomas Wilson, who authored the report, says “eCommerce merchants must couple automated AI defence systems with human-piloted checks.”

Behavioral analytics with step-up verification via biometrics can recognise fraud patterns that humans often miss, and must be deployed to help identify patterns in real-time.

The alarm bells on synthetic ID fraud echo findings from Smile ID. “Fraud involving real identities has become one of the most dangerous threats to digital security, driven by tools that allow fraudsters to manipulate legitimate identity elements like ID photos or videos,” it says.

“In 2024, this trend grew significantly as fraudsters shifted from creating synthetic identities to exploiting real ones, a tactic expected to accelerate in 2025 as digital ID verification systems become better at detecting fakes.”

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometrics  |  deepfake detection  |  deepfakes  |  fraud prevention  |  Juniper Research  |  Smile Identity  |  synthetic identity fraud