https://en.sputniknews.africa/20250516/stolen-faces-cloned-voices-inside-ai-scams-targeting-africans-1073133993.html
Stolen Faces, Cloned Voices: Inside AI Scams Targeting Africans
Stolen Faces, Cloned Voices: Inside AI Scams Targeting Africans
Sputnik Africa
The rapid rise of AI-generated identity fraud is testing Africa’s digital defenses, exposing gaps in regulation, trust, and readiness. From deepfakes to voice... 16.05.2025, Sputnik Africa
2025-05-16T12:34+0200
2025-05-16T12:34+0200
2025-05-16T12:34+0200
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Stolen Faces, Cloned Voices: Inside AI Scams Targeting Africans
Sputnik Africa
The rapid rise of AI-generated identity fraud is testing Africa’s digital defenses, exposing gaps in regulation, trust, and readiness. From deepfakes to voice cloning, fraudsters are exploiting advanced tools faster than most countries can respond, and without clear, unified frameworks, stopping them is becoming an uphill battle.
As digital systems expand across Africa, from mobile banking to national ID schemes, so do the risks. Inconsistent infrastructure and fragmented regulatory approaches have left some sectors exposed. Meanwhile, algorithmic bias threatens to exclude African users or misrepresent them, prompting experts to call for stronger local investment in AI education and governance.Speaking to Global South Pole in a thought-provoking conversation, Dr. Abdoul-Aziz Maiga, an AI for cybersecurity researcher at the Pan-African University of Science and Technology in Kenya, said freely available AI tools are being used to bypass traditional verification systems. These tools, he warns, allow attackers to scale fraud at a level never seen before.To listen to the whole conversation with the AI expert, tune in to the Global South Pole podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.In addition to the website, you can also catch our episodes on Telegram.► You can also listen to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Castbox, Pocket Casts, Afripods, Podcast Addict, Overcast, and Mave Stream.► Check out all the episodes of Global South Pole.
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kenya, africa, artificial intelligence (ai), podcasts, cybercrime, cyberattack, security, digital technology , technology, information and communications technology (ict), innovation, fraud, youth, documents, military, elections, аудио, research
Stolen Faces, Cloned Voices: Inside AI Scams Targeting Africans
Aliyu Bello
Correspondent, Podcast Host
The rapid rise of AI-generated identity fraud is testing Africa’s digital defenses, exposing gaps in regulation, trust, and readiness. From deepfakes to voice cloning, fraudsters are exploiting advanced tools faster than most countries can respond, and without clear, unified frameworks, stopping them is becoming an uphill battle.
As digital systems expand across Africa, from mobile banking to national ID schemes, so do the risks. Inconsistent infrastructure and fragmented regulatory approaches have left some sectors exposed. Meanwhile, algorithmic bias threatens to exclude African users or misrepresent them, prompting experts to call for stronger local investment in AI education and governance.
Speaking to Global South Pole in a thought-provoking conversation, Dr. Abdoul-Aziz Maiga, an AI for cybersecurity researcher at the Pan-African University of Science and Technology in Kenya, said freely available AI tools are being used to bypass traditional verification systems. These tools, he warns, allow attackers to scale fraud at a level never seen before.
“Generative AI tools can now create highly convincing fake IDs like images, facial [recognition], biometrics, and voice clone. So it makes it much more harder for traditional security checks to detect fraud. So this threatens not only [the] financial sector, but also critical areas like [the] military, healthcare, voting, and social welfare distributions,” Dr. Maiga said.
To listen to the whole conversation with the AI expert, tune in to the Global South Pole podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
In addition to the website, you can also catch our episodes on
Telegram.► Check out all the episodes of Global South Pole. 
