Nearly 65 percent of digital fraud attempts in West Africa are linked to biometric spoofing, according to the 2026 Digital Identity Fraud Report released by identity verification company Smile ID.
The study, titled “From Selfies to Signals: Identity Enters the Security Era,” highlights a sharp shift in fraud tactics. Criminals are increasingly bypassing traditional document forgery to exploit weaknesses in biometric verification systems, targeting both onboarding processes and existing accounts.
According to Smile ID, 65 percent of fraud attempts in the region involved spoofing or failed face-matching during identity checks. Automation and reuse of stolen identities accounted for 22 percent, while document manipulation and presentation tricks made up 13 percent of incidents.
“Fraud is no longer limited to onboarding. Attackers are operating inside verified accounts, targeting login flows, account recovery, device changes, and high-value transactions. Biometric spoofing has become their main entry point,” Mark Straub, CEO of Smile ID stated.
The report revealed that in 2025, Smile ID detected over 100,000 injection-style attacks per month. These attacks bypass device cameras entirely, using synthetic or pre-recorded images fed into verification systems through emulators or virtual devices.
Artificial intelligence is making these attacks faster and more scalable. Deepfake-generated biometric fraud is rising across multiple industries, enabling attackers to automate account takeovers and move funds at scale.
Authentication-related fraud now occurs five times more frequently than onboarding fraud, the report found, confirming a shift in risk toward verified accounts rather than the initial registration process.
Mobile devices are playing a critical role in defense. Nearly 90 percent of fraud blocked in 2025 was detected through mobile signals collected via Smile ID’s software, up from 68 percent in 2024.
The findings are based on anonymised analysis of more than 200 million identity verification checks across 35 countries and 37 industries.
Read also: Cyberattacks push security top spot on Telecoms’ 2026 spending agenda
Straub emphasized that tackling this new wave of fraud requires ecosystem-wide protection and continuous monitoring rather than one-off checks. “Identity has entered the security era. Collaboration and shared intelligence are essential to safeguarding users,” he said.
