Nairobi, Kenya has emerged as one of East Africa’s major cybercrime hotspots, with criminals increasingly exploiting the country’s widespread mobile-money ecosystem and weaknesses in telecommunications systems, according to the INTERPOL African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026.
The report identifies Kenya, alongside Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda, among the countries experiencing significant cybercrime activity in the region. The rapid expansion of mobile financial services has created a lucrative target for criminals seeking to compromise phone numbers and gain access to victims’ digital wallets.
One of the most concerning trends is the sharp increase in SIM-swap fraud. According to reporting on the INTERPOL assessment, fraudulent SIM-card issuance in Kenya increased by 327 percent in 2025, with more than 123,000 fraudulent SIM cards reportedly issued. Criminals used compromised numbers to access mobile-money accounts, with approximately US$3.8 million reportedly drained from mobile wallets.
SIM-swap fraud occurs when criminals obtain control of a victim’s mobile number, allowing them to intercept communications and potentially bypass security measures associated with financial accounts. The growing scale of the problem highlights the risks created when telecommunications systems and financial services become increasingly interconnected.
The INTERPOL assessment also points to the broader transformation of cybercrime across Africa. Rather than operating as isolated criminal incidents, cybercrime is increasingly becoming an industrialised and borderless ecosystem, with criminals using technology to make attacks faster, more scalable and more difficult to detect.
For consumers, the growing threat reinforces the importance of protecting mobile accounts, being cautious about unsolicited requests for personal or financial information, and promptly reporting suspicious activity to telecommunications providers and financial institutions.
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