Emma Okonji
Cybersecurity professional, Mr. Remi Afon has predicted that Nigeria’s cybercrime panorama will evolve additional relatively than recede because the nation steps into 2026.
In accordance with him, organised cybercrime teams are prone to grow to be extra structured in 2026, adopting outlined operational roles and leveraging Synthetic Intelligence (AI) to scale fraud at pace.
Afon, who’s the Founder, GoLegit Africa, informed THISDAY that AI-assisted social engineering would mature, enabling menace actors to generate extremely convincing communications in English, Pidgin, and native dialects, including that these context-aware assaults will exploit cultural familiarity, belief networks, and financial strain, making deception tougher to detect and simpler to automate.
“In 2026, deception itself will probably be automated, powered by AI, structured networks, and digital finance abuse. The yr 2025 marked a defining part in Nigeria’s cybercrime evolution. What was as soon as dominated by casual on-line fraud continued its transition into organised, technology-enabled felony exercise working throughout borders. This shift mirrored a broader continental development, with cybercrime now accounting for a big share of reported crime throughout Africa. Excessive-profile, intelligence-led arrests involving the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC) and INTERPOL demonstrated each the dimensions of Nigerian-linked cybercrime networks and the rising effectiveness of worldwide cooperation. These operations despatched a transparent sign, as geography is now not a defend for digital crime,” Afon stated.
He defined that some of the important accelerators of such menace heading into 2026 could be the continued rise of foreign exchange, crypto, and on-line funding scams.
“All through 2025, cloned buying and selling platforms, faux dealer dashboards, social media influencers-driven ‘telegram teams’, and staged withdrawals proliferated, blurring the road between professional fintech innovation and felony enterprise. In 2026, these schemes will grow to be much more sophisticate, supported by AI-generated testimonials, customer support personas, and long-con engagement fashions that hold victims invested emotionally and financially over time, “Afon stated.
“The misuse of AI will lengthen past messaging into the infrastructure of cybercrime itself. Menace actors will more and more use AI to automate sufferer profiling, personalise rip-off narratives, handle mule networks, and optimise laundering routes throughout fintech platforms and digital cost rails. Deepfake audio and video will function extra prominently in impersonation fraud, funding scams, and trust-based exploitation involving companies, households, and faith-based establishments. This evolution will place extra pressure on id verification, fraud detection, and digital belief mechanisms throughout Nigeria’s monetary ecosystem,” Afon additional stated.
In an effort to handle the anticipated rise in cybercrime in 2026, he stated worldwide cooperation could be a defining think about 2026.
“Constructing on the momentum of Africa-wide cybercrime operations in 2025, intelligence sharing, coordinated takedowns, asset tracing, and extradition efforts will result in extra frequent disruptions of Nigerian linked cybercrime networks. Whereas enforcement capability will enhance, felony teams will proceed to adapt, decentralising operations and recruiting technically expert youth to interchange these arrested, reinforcing the necessity for sustained, coordinated world engagement relatively than remoted crackdowns,” he stated.
In accordance with him, from a GoLegit Africa perspective, 2026 represents each heightened danger and a essential alternative. “Enforcement stays mandatory, however it’s not adequate. Many people concerned in foreign exchange scams and digital fraud should not ideologically felony; they’re economically motivated and technically succesful. With out viable alternate options, the cycle of recruitment, arrest, and alternative will proceed no matter what number of networks are disrupted.
“The trail ahead is obvious. Nigeria’s response to the automation of deception should stability world enforcement with native prevention, rehabilitation, and redirection. Funding in AI-enabled fraud detection, digital belief frameworks, and worldwide cooperation have to be matched with structured pathways that convert underground digital expertise into professional cybersecurity, expertise, and digital economic system careers. That is the area the place GoLegit Africa operates, intervening early, rehabilitating offenders, and breaking the pipeline earlier than crime turns into the default choice.
“The prediction for 2026 is straightforward however pressing. Nigeria’s cybercrime menace will proceed to scale by means of automation, however our long-term resilience will probably be decided by whether or not we select enforcement alone or enforcement mixed with alternative. If we can’t out-educate, out-employ, and out-inspire organised cybercrime, we’ll proceed to chase its signs relatively than its supply,” Afon additional stated.
