Free Reads AI Turns African Cybercrime Into USD 484 M Industrial-Scale Machine By Staff Reporter  |  August 14, 2026 Artificial intelligence is now implicated in 55% of reported cybercrimes across Africa, according to a recent INTERPOL report. Cyber-related financial losses have more than doubled since 2024, jumping from USD 192 M to USD 484 M. The number of confirmed victims rose from 35,000 to 87,000 over the same period. The 40-page African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, based on survey data from 36 African countries, suggests cybercrime has evolved from isolated incidents into an industrialised, borderless ecosystem. AI is automating every stage of an attack, from reconnaissance and phishing to extortion and evasion. In 2025, South Africa accounted for 92% of all ransomware detections recorded by TrendAI, one of INTERPOL’s partners. The country also registered 213,523 distributed denial-of-service attacks and accounted for 70% of business email compromise detections. Nigeria recorded 5,822 ransomware…