SABRIC Reports Decrease in Banking Crime Losses but Warns of Rising AI-Driven Fraud Threats

Johannesburg – The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) has released its Annual Crime Statistics for 2024, revealing a significant decline in financial crime losses while simultaneously highlighting the escalating threat of artificial intelligence (AI) in fraudulent schemes.

In 2023, financial crime losses in South Africa amounted to R3.3 billion.

This figure dropped to R2.7 billion in 2024, representing an approximate 18 percent decrease.

SABRIC attributes this improvement to enhanced prevention and detection measures adopted by the banking industry.

Nevertheless, criminals have evolved, increasingly leveraging AI technologies for their illicit operations.

SABRIC CEO, Andre Wentzel, stated, “Criminals are employing AI to create scams that appear more believable and convincing.”

“From impeccably crafted phishing emails to AI-generated WhatsApp messages and even voice-cloned deepfakes, these tactics highlight the urgent need for proactive and collaborative strategies to protect consumers.”

The statistics for 2024 indicate that digital banking fraud continues to be the most prevalent channel, making up 65.3 percent of recorded cases.

Incident reports nearly doubled, soaring from 31,612 in 2023 to 64,000 in 2024, with losses increasing from R1 billion to over R1.4 billion.

Importantly, these occurrences were mainly attributed to social engineering tactics that capitalized on human errors, rather than technical flaws in banking systems.

AI-enabled crime has become an emerging threat, with offenders utilizing machine-generated content to deceive victims.

Reported instances included AI-generated phishing emails and WhatsApp messages, alongside initial cases of voice-based deepfake scams impersonating individuals and banking officials.

SABRIC has cautioned that by 2025, real-time deepfake audio and video could become standard tools in fraud operations.

Other categories of crime showed significant trends as well. ATM assaults decreased by 18 percent, resulting in a 44 percent reduction in cash losses.

Related robberies fell by 35 percent, with client losses decreasing by 64 percent, credited to a cooperative industry task force that has reduced ATM bombings.

Card-related fraud continues to be predominantly influenced by Card Not Present (CNP) transactions, which accounted for 85.6 percent of total fraud losses for South African WWW.SABRIC.CO.ZA issued credit cards.

Lost and stolen cards constituted 8.2 percent of cases, while fraudulent applications made up 2.9 percent.

Counterfeit card fraud remains a significant concern, with 64.4 percent of counterfeit credit card fraud and 63.1 percent of counterfeit debit card fraud occurring within the nation.

Toll plazas and service stations have been identified as hotspots for these offenses.

SABRIC reaffirmed its dedication to working with its members to improve consumer education and awareness initiatives, enhance industry cooperation, and invest in technology to secure the banking system.

“Protecting the financial sector requires constant vigilance and collaboration among banks, regulators, law enforcement, and civil society,” Wentzel emphasized.

“Together, we can stay ahead of an ever-changing criminal landscape.”