Nearly two-thirds of Namibians surveyed by TransUnion said they had been targeted by digital fraud in the last three months of 2024, with vishing, phishing and online retail scams being the most common schemes.
According to the Namibia findings of the TransUnion H1 2025 Update to the State of Omnichannel Fraud Report, 63% of respondents reported attempted fraud via email, online platforms, phone calls or text messages between November and December 2024.
Of these, 11% said they had fallen victim to such scams.
The most frequently reported fraud scheme was vishing, where criminals attempt to extract personal information over the phone, cited by 30% of those who had been targeted.
Phishing, typically involving fake emails, websites, social media posts or QR codes, followed at 24%, while 22% of respondents pointed to scams involving fraudulent third-party sellers on legitimate online shopping platforms.
In a separate finding from the same survey, nearly one-third of Namibians (31%) said they had lost money to digital fraud in the past year.
Among these, 33% said the losses were due to stolen credit cards or fraudulent charges, 27% cited third-party seller scams, and 21% lost money to phishing.
“Namibia has a 110% mobile phone penetration rate, with people using mobile phones to conduct their everyday business, connect with friends, or keep in touch with family, so it’s easy to understand why digital fraud would be such a common tactic among fraudsters targeting this region,” said Amritha Reddy, Senior Director of Fraud Solutions at TransUnion Africa.
“While cybercriminals will attack at any time using any channel, they appear to focus on channels most popular in the regions they are targeting.”
The survey also found that 37% of Namibian respondents were not aware of being targeted by fraud, raising concerns that many may have been approached without recognising it.
According to TransUnion, Namibia tied with Kenya as the African country with the second-highest percentage of respondents who said they had fallen victim to email, online, phone or text fraud in the second half of 2024. Zambia recorded the lowest percentage among the countries surveyed.
In Namibia, vishing was the most commonly reported fraud type. In comparison, South Africans mostly reported phishing attacks, while smishing (fraud via SMS) was most common in Kenya and Zambia.
Globally, the highest rates of suspected digital fraud in 2024 were recorded on community platforms such as online forums and dating sites, where nearly 12% of transactions were flagged as suspected fraud attempts.
This was followed by video gaming (11%), online gaming including betting and poker (8%), and retail (8%). TransUnion also highlighted that shipping fraud within the logistics sector, often linked to organised crime groups, saw the largest surge in fraud volume globally, more than doubling from the previous year.
“Digital fraud on community platforms is by no means a new phenomenon. In 2024, it appears that fraudsters targeted these areas with renewed vigour,” said Reddy.
“Cybercriminals take advantage of the trust inherent on community-based platforms and target members with a wide range of scammer solicitations.”
In Namibia, the retail sector recorded the highest rate of suspected attempted digital fraud in 2024 at 8.4%, with a 68.5% increase in fraud attempts compared to 2023.
The gaming sector followed at 7.7%, with fraud attempts rising by 84.2%. The travel and leisure industry, though recording a relatively low fraud rate at 0.2%, experienced the sharpest year-on-year increase in suspected fraud volume, up by 111.8%.
“It is encouraging to see that attempts at digital fraud have decreased across several of the surveyed industries in Namibia,” Reddy said.
“Organisations that draw on identity, device and behavioural insights to help them interact with legitimate consumers while mitigating fraud risk are more likely to protect themselves and their customers from the scourge of digital fraud.”
Other sectors such as financial services, video gaming, telecommunications and communities reported significantly lower fraud rates in Namibia, with some industries experiencing a notable drop in attempted fraud compared to the previous year.
The survey also found that 29% of global respondents said they lost money to fraud in 2024, with the median amount lost standing at N$32,428.
In Namibia, the median loss reported by those affected was N$11,174.
TransUnion’s report is based on consumer survey data and fraud detection insights from multiple countries, including Namibia, Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
