Digital crime continues to “soar” in South Africa, with digital banking fraud nearly doubling in volume over the previous year, according to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) in its Annual Crime Statistics for 2024.
“The 2024 statistics highlight that digital banking fraud remained the most dominant channel, accounting for 65.3% of reported incidents,” Sabric found, with cases almost doubling, from 31,612 in 2023 to 64,000 in 2024.
Meanwhile, losses increased from R1 billion to over R1.4 billion, it reported.
“In 2024, digital banking crime continued to soar following the sharp upward trend from 2023,” the report found. “Digital banking fraud incidents escalated in 2024 compared to the previous year, depicting an 86% increase in reported incidents from the banking industry and a 74% increase in the associated losses. This significant increase highlights the need for robust countermeasures.”
But it pointed out that, “importantly, these incidents were the result of social engineering techniques that exploited human error, rather than technical compromises of banking platforms.”
The report added that “human fallibility is a primary attack vector that is exploited to deploy social engineering attacks. The surge in fraud during 2024 was largely due to phishing, ‘vishing’ and other social engineering tactics. Criminals obtained passwords, PINS or approvals by tricking victims through sophisticated fraud schemes, and in some cases, scams driven by AI.”
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Indeed, Sabric warns of “the growing threat posed by artificial intelligence (AI) in fraud schemes.”
Despite recorded financial crime losses dropping from R3.3 billion in 2023 to R2.7 billion in 2024, “criminals have adapted to changing conditions,” it cautions, as, increasingly, fraudsters are exploiting AI tools to carry out more complex scams.
Sabric CEO Andre Wentzel says, “criminals are leveraging AI to create scams that appear more legitimate and convincing. From error-free phishing emails to AI-generated WhatsApp messages and even voice-cloned deepfakes, these tactics highlight the need for proactive and collaborative strategies to protect consumers.”
New AI-powered scams to compromise hapless users have joined phishing, including vishing, smishing, and quishing (using QR codes).
“These emerging trends paint a picture of an ever-evolving threat landscape. Criminals are innovating constantly, whether through technology like AI and malware or through inventive social tricks. However, banks and partners are also evolving in response, using better tech, stricter policies and teamwork,” Sabric said.
The good news is the 18% reduction (from R3.3-billion in 2023 to R2.7-billion in 2024) demonstrates “the strengthened prevention and detection measures introduced by the banking industry.”
