AI-driven biometric fraud surges in Africa, fueling financial crimes
A new report says the emergence of cheap artificial intelligence tools is leading to a wave of biometric fraud in Africa. The report says fraudsters are using AI to create fake documents, voices, and images that facilitate identity theft and financial crimes.
In July 2024, Japhet Ndubi, a Kenyan journalist, lost his phone and could not trace it. He replaced the SIM card, bought a new phone, and went on with his life.
Four days later, while on a lunch break, he received a text alerting him that he had sent money to a certain number.
"Now I am using a new phone. When I saw money was sent to a certain number, I was surprised because I have my phone here. I called Safaricom to inquire, 'How come some money is sent to a certain number without my authorization?' It's when they told me, 'Are you sure you are not the one who has withdrawn? Because we see a transaction has been carried out and sent to this number, and we can see you have used your fingerprints to withdraw the money,'" he said.
The fraudsters even took out a loan that took him months to pay off. Authorities never made an arrest even though his phone was recovered.
Nudbi was a victim of biometric fraud — a type of criminal activity where someone copies another person's unique characteristics, like their voice or fingerprints, to impersonate them and gain access to their devices or financial accounts.
Smile ID is a U.S.-based company with offices in Kenya that develops software to protect people's privacy. A report it released late last month says cases of document forgery and deepfakes are on the rise across Africa, as are simpler phishing attempts — all in an effort to steal money from innocent victims.
The Smile ID researchers found that fraudsters especially targeted vulnerable people in low-literacy regions through phishing, data breaches, and making purchases through illicit sources.
Stolen data is then exploited to create fraudulent bank accounts to be used for money laundering operations.
Joshua Kumah, a Ghanaian, received a fake text claiming that money had been transferred to his mobile banking account. The text led to him losing control of his account and SIM card.
"The person told me to follow a short code that the money would be transferred back to him, so I did that without paying attention to the details. So, by the time I realized it was already too late, I had already given him access to my sim card, so I had to report to cancel that sim card. So, I lost the money I had on that sim. I had to start all over again," he said.
Ndubi is still in shock at how his fingerprints were used to access money through his mobile phone. He says that has changed how he uses the device.
"I was very surprised that they were able to use fingerprints, and I kept asking the telecom provider how they were able to access it but they were not able to tell me. So, I even lost faith in the Mpesa mobile banking application; actually, I have never used it," he said.
To prevent fraud, authorities and businesses now sometimes insist that people present themselves physically and produce valid identification cards to prove their identities.
As for average Kenyans, many are trying to avoid using mobile apps on their phones, and are checking with banks and telecom operators about any transactions made in and out of their accounts.
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