Nigeria’s national ID 9th most-attacked by thieves

Nigeria’s national identification document has been ranked as the 9th most attacked document by thieves on the African continent.

A report by Africa’s identity verification startup, Smile ID, disclosed that Nigeria’s identification document ranked 9th on the continent.

According to the 2024 Digital Identity Fraud in Africa Report, national ID cards in African countries have seen a surge in attacks over the last two years.

The report shows that in 2023, South Africa’s national ID had the highest per cent of fraud attempts at 34 per cent, thus ranking number 1.

Tanzania’s national ID emerged as the second most attacked, with a 32 per cent attempted fraud rate, while Kenya’s national ID ranked 3rd at 26 per cent. Nigeria recorded an 18 per cent attempted fraud rate to rank as number 9.

“In the last two years, an overwhelming number of fraud attacks were directed at national ID cards, which accounted for 80% of all document fraud attacks. 11 out of the top 19 most attacked document types were also national IDs.

“This preference for national ID cards among fraudsters results from two factors. In most countries, the national ID is the most common form of government identification and is mandatory for most adults. With more national ID documents in circulation than ever, the chances of them getting lost or stolen increase by the year, exposing holders to potential document fraud,” the report stated.