Sumsub launches AI Agent Verification as Africa grapples with surge in AI-driven fraud

January 30, 2026 in Companies, Infrastructure, Technology & Telecoms by Editor

As AI-powered automation accelerates across Africa’s digital economy, fraud risks are becoming more complex. Sumsub’s new AI Agent Verification solution aims to restore accountability by linking automated activity to verified human identity, helping platforms combat deepfakes and coordinated fraud without blocking innovation.

As artificial intelligence becomes deeply embedded in Africa’s digital economy, concerns around accountability, trust and fraud risk are rapidly escalating.

Global verification and fraud prevention company Sumsub has announced the launch of AI Agent Verification, a new solution aimed at ensuring that AI-powered automation across African digital platforms remains tied to real, verified human identities.

The announcement comes against the backdrop of a sharp escalation in AI-enabled fraud. According to the Sumsub Identity Fraud Report 2025–2026, coordinated and multi-step fraud attacks increased by 180 percent year-on-year in 2025, highlighting a decisive shift away from low-effort scams towards more complex, technology-assisted fraud techniques.

Across Africa, AI-powered agents are increasingly deployed to automate onboarding, payments, payouts and customer interactions in fintech, e-commerce and digital services. While automation has accelerated efficiency and reduced operational costs, it has also created new vulnerabilities, particularly where automated systems operate without clear human oversight.

Many platforms now struggle to distinguish legitimate, human-authorised automation from malicious activity. In response, some have resorted to blocking automation entirely, a move that often introduces friction for users and limits innovation in fast-growing digital ecosystems.

Sumsub says its AI Agent Verification adopts a different approach. Rather than treating automation as inherently suspicious, the solution links every AI agent and automated action to a verified individual under Sumsub’s Know Your Agent (KYA) framework. This establishes a clear line of human accountability, allowing trusted automation to operate while reducing exposure to anonymous, AI-driven abuse.

“AI agents are rapidly becoming the backbone of digital operations, yet most systems still treat them as opaque, unaccountable black boxes,” said Vyacheslav Zholudev, co-founder and chief technology officer at Sumsub. “Instead of attempting to blindly trust AI agents themselves, our solution focuses on verifying the humans behind them.”

The launch also reflects what Sumsub describes as a growing “sophistication shift” in Africa’s fraud landscape. While some markets recorded fewer basic scams in 2025, fraud networks increasingly turned to deepfakes, synthetic identities and coordinated cross-border attacks.

Sumsub’s data shows a sharp rise in fraud involving manipulated or mismatched facial images across the continent. Year-on-year deepfake fraud attempts rose by 367 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 317 percent in Tanzania, and 269 percent in South Africa. In more mature digital markets such as Kenya, overall fraud rates declined, yet deepfakes accounted for a growing share of remaining cases, suggesting attackers are targeting stronger verification environments with more advanced methods.

AI Agent Verification is designed to manage these risks through continuous monitoring and proportionate controls. The system detects whether activity is automated, assesses its risk in real time, and applies targeted safeguards only when necessary. At critical moments such as onboarding, account changes or high-value transactions, platforms can require confirmation that a real human is present and authorising the action.

According to Artem Popov, head of fraud prevention at Sumsub, automation has become unavoidable as African digital platforms scale, but unchecked automation carries significant risk.

“When AI agents can create accounts, move money or transact at scale without human accountability, fraud becomes extremely difficult to contain,” Popov said. “AI Agent Verification ensures that automation never operates without a real person behind it.”

As Africa’s digital economy continues to expand, Sumsub says linking AI-driven automation to verified human responsibility will be critical to maintaining trust, enabling innovation and protecting platforms from increasingly sophisticated fraud networks.