South Africans lost a staggering R2.4 billion to digital banking crime in 2025 as scammers increasingly used technology and social engineering to target bank customers.
The latest figures from the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) recorded 110,074 digital banking crime incidents during the year.
Banking apps were at the centre of the problem, accounting for around 89% of reported incidents and 70.5% of total client losses.
SABRIC said criminals relied heavily on tactics such as phishing, impersonating trusted organisations, remote-access software and fake payment instructions to convince victims to reveal sensitive information or authorise transactions.
Digital banking losses increased significantly from approximately R1.9 billion in 2024, highlighting the growing threat facing consumers as more people move their financial lives online.
Card Fraud Remains A Concern
Card fraud also increased, with losses rising 18% to R1.7 billion in 2025. Card-not-present fraud remained the largest contributor to losses in this category.
However, not every form of banking crime increased. ATM attacks dropped by 46%, while cash losses linked to these attacks fell by 63%. Bank robberies also declined from eight incidents in 2024 to just two in 2025.
AI Gives Scammers A New Weapon
SABRIC has also warned that artificial intelligence is making fraud harder to identify.
Criminals can now create increasingly convincing messages, images and voice recordings, making it easier to impersonate banks, police officers and other trusted institutions.
The warning is clear: as banking becomes more digital, consumers need to be increasingly cautious about who they trust online and what they approve through their devices.
Main Image: Daily Maverick
