tl;dr: INTERPOL's African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026 found that 55% of cybercrime cases across 36 African countries now involve AI, with financial losses jumping from $192M in 2024 to $484M. Criminals are leveraging deepfakes, AI-generated BEC emails, and synthetic identities to scale scams, sextortion, and fraud, while 72% of surveyed countries reported scam centers within their borders. Despite gaps in law enforcement readiness, 17 countries updated cybercrime laws in 2025 and joint operations led to 1,500+ arrests and $100M recovered.