A recent report by Smile ID, a main provider of identity solutions in Africa, revealed that East Africa had recorded the greatest number of cases of documentary fraud in 2024.
The regional dependence on documents for identification purposes contributed to this high fraud rate.
The report based on a complete analysis of more than 110 million identity verification checks carried out by Smile ID in various industries across Africa, revealed that East Africa declared a rejection rate of 27 % in 2024 for combined biometric and documented fraud. These incidents have occurred in countries like Zambia, Rwanda and Sudan, which were largely motivated by inconsistent and poor quality identity documents.
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Central Africa followed 22%, showing an increase of 3% compared to 2023. West Africa equaled the rate of 22% in Central Africa, marking a significant leap of 12% in 2023 in Reason for the increase in biometric fraud attempts. Southern Africa has experienced rejection rates from 9% to 21%, widely allocated to fraud attempts involving retired green paper.
Fraud involving faulty security features has ranked second, highlighting the use of counterfeit documents without key elements such as watermark or holograms. The expired documents were less common, which indicates that fraudsters move away from obsolete identification information as verification systems become more effective.
The correspondence without face continued to dominate As the most common type of biometric fraud in Africa, in accordance with 2023. In East Africa, it represented 23% of fraud attempts, showing that fraudsters always prefer basic methods to the complex task of reproducing user’s facial features. However, cases of parody increased between the regions, West Africa, seeing the largest leap, reaching 15% of its cases of biometric fraud against less than 5% in 2023. In addition, Africa of Africa The west recorded the largest number of cases of biometric fraud in 2024.
The fraudsters notably target the most common identity documents in Africa. The national IDs recorded the highest rate of fraud in Africa in 2024, at 27%, reflecting their generalized use as a form of main identification. Driving licenses followed at 24%, driven by their frequent use through formal and informal contexts, increasing their exposure to misuse.
Passports, often perceived as safer due to stricter emission protocols, showed a fraud rate of 20%. The “Other” category comprising Work permits and extraterrestrial cards represented 19%, while voter identifiers had the lowest rate of fraud at 14%. These results highlight, the various vulnerabilities between the types of identification, with National IDs remain the most at risk due to their omnipresence. While passports and other specialized documents such as work permits have Lower fraud rates, their abusive use often involve high challenges, such as international trips or employment fraud, with significant financial and reputation risks.
In order to combat fraud attacks through the African continent, several countries adopt digital identifiers to improve security and reduce fraud in identity verification.
In South Africa, efforts to replace obsolete green identification books with secure intelligent identity cards are gaining momentum. Green books, historically vulnerable due to low security features, had the highest rate of African fraud in 2023 to 34%
Ethiopia has also made significant progress with its National Identification Program (NIDP), known as Fayda. Launched in 2022 and led by the Prime Minister’s office, the program uses biometric technology to provide secure digital identities. This system is designed to reduce fraud while improving access to services for millions of citizens.
Other countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda and Tanzania, also advance digital identification systems to strengthen traditional identification methods and combat fraud between sectors.
