Despite the year-over-year (y-o-y) decline in suspected digital fraud from Namibia and globally, fraudsters continue to adapt, turning to high-trust, scam-based tactics that can bypass traditional safeguards. However, despite these efforts, research found that only 1.2% of transaction attempts involving consumers in Namibia in 2025 were suspected of digital fraud, which is well below the global average of 3.8%.
The research was conducted by TransUnion, a global information and insights company with over 13 000 associates operating in more than 30 countries and territories, including Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, eSwatini and Zambia.
The TransUnion research also indicated that while overall suspected digital fraud rates remain comparatively low, consumer impact remains meaningful. Among Namibian consumers surveyed by TransUnion who reported losing money to digital fraud in the past year (defined in the survey as email, online, phone call and text message scams), the median reported loss was N$7 726.
These findings are contained in the TransUnion H1 2026 Update: Top Fraud Trends report, which blends insights from a TransUnion consumer survey and its global intelligence network to track how fraud patterns are shifting across markets and digital channels.
“Global fraud trends show a clear pattern: as digital adoption accelerates, fraud evolves first through social engineering and trust exploitation before scaling into identity-driven account takeover and cross-channel attacks,” said Amritha Reddy, senior director of fraud product management at TransUnion Africa.
“Namibia sits squarely at this early transition point. While it remains one of the lower-risk markets among the African countries analysed, global experience shows this stage is temporary. In this context, the strategic advantage Namibia has is time. The signals seen in global markets today provide a clear roadmap for how fraud is likely to evolve next,” explained Reddy.
Meanwhile, Namibian consumers are increasingly facing coordinated, identity-driven and cross-channel fraud, with attacks moving deeper into everyday digital interactions. Among Namibians who reported losing money to digital fraud over the past year, more than one third (35%) said third-party seller scams on legitimate e-commerce sites were responsible for the loss. This indicates that losses are not occurring in obviously unsafe environments, but rather within credible, familiar and trusted digital spaces.
“Even in a lower-risk market like Namibia, fraudsters are prioritising mainstream platforms that consumers trust,” Reddy said. “This mirrors global fraud patterns, even if overall loss values remain lower,” she added.
Even when overall suspected fraud rates appear lower than 2024, risk can remain elevated at specific points in the digital consumer lifecycle, particularly where criminals attempt to create or manipulate identities. In 2025, the highest suspected digital fraud rate in Namibia in the consumer lifecycle occurred at account creation (2.8%), followed by account login (1.4%) and during financial transactions (0.2%).
“This profile aligns strongly with early-stage fraud markets globally,” Reddy said. “Markets that fail to strengthen fraud prevention at onboarding early tend to experience rapid escalation of login-based fraud later. Namibia therefore has a critical opportunity to reinforce identity verification and behavioural intelligence now, before fraud becomes systemic,” she said.
Findings from the TransUnion survey also show that the top features Namibian consumers value when choosing whom to transact with online are confidence that their personal data is secure (89% rated this as very important), easy payment processes (81%) and ease of login or authentication (76%).
“Consumers are willing to accept friction when it clearly enhances protection,” Reddy added. “Security in Namibia is increasingly becoming a driver of brand trust and differentiation, not just regulatory compliance.”
Across Africa, suspected digital fraud risk varies by industry, reflecting local user behaviours and where criminals see opportunity. For attempted transactions involving consumers in Namibia, gaming (online sports betting, poker, etc.) transactions recorded the highest suspected digital fraud attempt rate in 2025, at 4.5%.
As more services converge around mobile identity, realtime connectivity and platformbased interactions, fraud increasingly appears wherever users are most active, not only where money changes hands.
“High-engagement platforms such as gaming often act as early testing grounds for new fraud tactics,” Reddy said. “In Namibia’s digital economy, fraud doesn’t stay in silos. It moves wherever trust and engagement already exist.”
Namibia’s fraud landscape today reflects an early stage, trust-based digital economy, consistent with what was seen in global markets before fraud risk scaled materially. While current fraud rates remain relatively low in Namibia, the underlying signals of trust-based scams, onboarding pressure and growing digital reliance closely mirror the precursors to higher fraud rates observed globally.
“Waiting for fraud to scale is the most expensive strategy,” Reddy said. “Organisations that invest early in strong identity assurance, right-sized onboarding friction and cross-channel protection will be best positioned to enable secure digital growth and avoid the fraud challenges seen globally,” she explained.
TransUnion’s insights are based on a global survey of 12 730 consumers in 18 countries and regions, conducted during November and December 2025.
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