Your banking app is a fraudster's favourite target
South Africa’s banking industry logged 110 074 digital banking fraud incidents in 2025. It is an almost 13% increase from the 97 547 in 2024. In rand values, the losses grew from R1.86-billion in 2024 to R2.4-billion in 2025, according to data from the South African Banking Risk Information Centre’s (SABRIC’s) 2025 Annual Crime Statistics.
Banking apps are the entry point for most of this fraud, but SABRIC was clear that the apps themselves usually are not the weak link. “In many cases, the fraud began outside the banking platform, when criminals impersonated trusted organisations, created urgency, or guided customers through transactions in real time,” the report said. In 2025, the average loss per case of fraud involving a banking app was R17 389. SABRIC found there was “an increasing use of AI-generated phishing emails, messaging content and impersonation techniques designed to mimic trusted institutions or individuals”.
But banking apps are not where the real money was lost per case. That distinction belongs to internet banking, with R73 582 lost on average per case. SABRIC said internet banking was used for larger once-off payments, with the fraud done through fraudulent beneficiary name changes, false payment instructions and compromised business communication.
Mobile banking had both the cheapest fraud losses and the smallest number of cases, 2.9% of the total, with an average loss per case of R6 958. Mobile banking recorded the highest number of SIM swap-related incidents. “Criminals may use a compromised cellphone number to intercept alerts or verification messages and attempt to access banking services,” found SABRIC.
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