Nairobi, Aug. 3 -- Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda are among Africa's fastest-growing cybercrime hotspots, driven by mobile money fraud and advances in artificial intelligence (AI).

A new report by Interpol notes incidents of scammers tricking mobile network providers into moving phone numbers to new SIM cards they control, technically called SIM swap fraud, rose by 327 percent in Kenya in 2025.

The international police agency says more than 123,000 fraudulent SIM cards were issued, enabling criminals to hijack victims' phone numbers and steal cash from mobile money wallets.

The report says the region's fast adoption of mobile money has made it a prime target for fraudsters, while AI is enabling criminals to launch faster ...