By Remi Afon
Cybercrime in Nigeria is no longer manual, opportunistic, or disorganised. In 2026, deception itself is being automated, powered by AI, structured networks, and digital finance abuse. What we are witnessing is not a rise in scams, but the emergence of an industry.
The year 2025 marked a defining phase in Nigeria’s cybercrime evolution. What was once dominated by informal online fraud continued its transition into organised, technology-enabled criminal activity operating across borders. This shift mirrored a broader continental trend, with cybercrime now accounting for a significant share of reported crime across Africa. High-profile, intelligence-led arrests involving the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and INTERPOL demonstrated both the scale of Nigerian-linked cybercrime networks and the growing effectiveness of international cooperation. These operations sent a clear signal: geography is no longer a shield for digital crime.
As Nigeria moves into 2026, the cybercrime landscape is set to evolve further rather than recede. Organised cybercrime groups are becoming more structured, adopting defined operational roles and leveraging artificial intelligence to scale fraud at speed. AI-assisted social engineering will mature, enabling threat actors to generate highly convincing communications in English, Pidgin, and local dialects. These context-aware attacks will exploit cultural familiarity, trust networks, and economic pressure, making deception harder to detect and easier to automate.
One of the most significant accelerators of this threat heading into 2026 is the continued rise of forex, crypto, and online investment scams. Throughout 2025, cloned trading platforms, fake broker dashboards, social media influencers-driven “telegram groups,” and staged withdrawals proliferated, blurring the line between legitimate fintech innovation and criminal enterprise. In 2026, these schemes will become even more sophisticate, supported by AI-generated testimonials, customer service personas, and long-con engagement models that keep victims invested emotionally and financially over time.
The misuse of AI will extend beyond messaging into the infrastructure of cybercrime itself. Threat actors will increasingly use AI to automate victim profiling, personalise scam narratives, manage mule networks, and optimise laundering routes across fintech platforms and digital payment rails. Deepfake audio and video will feature more prominently in impersonation fraud, investment scams, and trust-based exploitation involving businesses, families, and faith-based institutions. This evolution will place additional strain on identity verification, fraud detection, and digital trust mechanisms across Nigeria’s financial ecosystem.
International cooperation will be a defining factor in 2026. Building on the momentum of Africa-wide cybercrime operations in 2025, intelligence sharing, coordinated takedowns, asset tracing, and extradition efforts will lead to more frequent disruptions of Nigerian linked cybercrime networks. While enforcement capacity will improve, criminal groups will continue to adapt, decentralising operations and recruiting technically skilled youth to replace those arrested, reinforcing the need for sustained, coordinated global engagement rather than isolated crackdowns.
From a GoLegit Africa perspective, 2026 represents both heightened risk and a critical opportunity. Enforcement remains necessary, but it is not sufficient. Many individuals involved in forex scams and digital fraud are not ideologically criminal; they are economically motivated and technically capable. Without viable alternatives, the cycle of recruitment, arrest, and replacement will continue regardless of how many networks are disrupted.
The path forward is clear. Nigeria’s response to the automation of deception must balance global enforcement with local prevention, rehabilitation, and redirection. Investment in AI-enabled fraud detection, digital trust frameworks, and international cooperation must be matched with structured pathways that convert underground digital skills into legitimate cybersecurity, technology, and digital economy careers. This is the space where GoLegit Africa operates, intervening early, rehabilitating offenders, and breaking the pipeline before crime becomes the default option.
The prediction for 2026 is simple but urgent: Nigeria’s cybercrime threat will continue to scale through automation, but our long-term resilience will be determined by whether we choose enforcement alone or enforcement combined with opportunity.
If we cannot out-educate, out-employ, and out-inspire organised cybercrime, we will continue to chase its symptoms rather than its source.
Remi Afon is the Founder, GoLegit Africa