Nigeria has been identified by INTERPOL as a launch pad and a prime target for cybercriminal operations sweeping across Africa.

The global policing body warned that the country’s dual role, as a hub for perpetrators and a victim of attacks, underscored the scale and complexity of the continent’s digital threat landscape.

According to INTERPOL’s findings, organised cybercrime groups are exploiting Nigeria’s growing digital economy while simultaneously directing attacks against its institutions, businesses, and citizens. This paradox highlighted the urgent need for coordinated defences, stronger cross‑border collaboration, and investment in cybersecurity resilience to protect Africa’s most populous nation from escalating digital risks.

INTERPOL’s African Cyber Threat Assessment Report 2026, which highlighted the country’s complex position in the continent’s rapidly evolving cyber threat, found that while Nigerian government agencies and businesses are increasingly being targeted by ransomware attacks, criminal networks operating from the country continue to play a prominent role in business email compromise (BEC) schemes and international money laundering.

The report highlighted Nigeria as one of Africa’s ransomware hotspots, recording 5,822 detections in 2025.

According to the international agency, cybercriminal groups operating from Nigeria have expanded beyond online fraud into sophisticated international money laundering operations.

The 40-page document cited attacks affecting the Nigeria Customs Service and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), warning that cybercriminals are targeting institutions that provide essential government services.

Beyond ransomware, INTERPOL said Nigeria also continued to feature in Business Email Compromise (BEC), one of the world’s most lucrative forms of cyber-enabled financial fraud.

The INTERPOL findings reinforce growing concerns over the rising sophistication of cybercrime, particularly the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by criminal networks.

Further, the report showed that AI was now enabling 55 per cent of reported cybercrimes across Africa, making attacks faster, more scalable and increasingly difficult to detect.

The report revealed that financial losses from cybercrime across the continent more than doubled, rising from $192 million in 2024 to $484 million in 2025.