INTERPOL sounds alarm over AI-Driven Sextortion in Ghana

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming cybercrime in Ghana, with young people increasingly falling victim to Deepfake-enabled sextortion scams that are inflicting severe financial and psychological harm, according to INTERPOL’s latest African Cyberthreat Assessment Report.

The report, which has been sighted by The Chronicle , reveals that financial losses among Ghanaian victims aged 18 to 24 years increased fivefold in 2025, driven largely by criminals using artificial intelligence to create fake sexually explicit images from victims’ social media photographs, before demanding money to stop the fabricated content from being shared.

The findings are contained in INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, published on the organisation’s website, which warns that artificial intelligence is now linked to 55 per cent of reported cybercrime across Africa, making Cyberattacks faster, more sophisticated and increasingly difficult to detect.

The report describes cybercrime as having evolved from isolated criminal acts into an industrialised, borderless enterprise, with AI now powering everything from phishing attacks and identity fraud to ransomware and online sexual extortion.

Ghana’s growing Deepfake threat

INTERPOL identifies digital sextortion as one of the fastest-growing cyber threats on the continent, warning that cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting artificial intelligence to manufacture realistic intimate images using nothing more than photographs obtained from victims’ social media accounts.

The fabricated images are then used to blackmail victims into making repeated payments, often through mobile money platforms or crypto currency, under threats that the content will be circulated to relatives, employers or published online.

The report notes that Ghana experienced a sharp rise in financial losses among young victims as Deepfake technology became more accessible to cybercriminals during 2025.

According to INTERPOL, advances in generative AI now enable criminals to create photorealistic explicit images from a single photograph, making traditional methods of verifying manipulated images increasingly ineffective.

Beyond financial loss, the organisation warns that victims frequently suffer depression, anxiety, emotional trauma and social isolation, while many incidents go unreported because of fear, shame and stigma.

AI reshaping cybercrime across Africa

The Ghana findings form part of a broader continental trend identified by INTERPOL.

The report estimates that artificial intelligence now facilitates 55 per cent of reported cybercrime across Africa, with criminals using AI to automate phishing campaigns, create synthetic identities, impersonate executives and generate convincing fraudulent communications.

Cybercrime losses across Africa have more than doubled, increasing from US$192 million in 2024 to US$484 million in 2025, largely because of AI-assisted scams, credential theft and automated social engineering attacks.

Online scams remained Africa’s most commonly reported cybercrime in 2025, with criminals exploiting mobile money services, social media platforms and AI-powered technologies to reach victims.

West Africa remains a hotspot

The report also identifies West Africa as one of the continent’s principal hotspots for Business Email Compromise (BEC) and romance scams.

It further reveals that 72 per cent of African countries surveyed reported the existence of scam centres, with the highest concentration found in West and Southern Africa.

According to INTERPOL, Africa-based cybercriminal groups are increasingly targeting businesses and individuals in Europe and North America using AI-generated emails and infrastructure spread across multiple jurisdictions.

Weak coordination aiding criminals

INTERPOL warns that the absence of real-time information sharing among banks, telecommunications operators and law enforcement agencies continues to undermine efforts to combat financial cybercrime.

The report says criminals are now creating synthetic digital identities by combining genuine personal information with fabricated details to bypass biometric verification systems, open bank accounts, obtain mobile loans and register SIM cards under false identities.

It also notes that many African countries, including those facing growing AI-enabled threats, lack specialised investigators trained to analyse deepfakes, investigate digital sexual abuse and provide adequate support for victims.

Strengthening Ghana’s cyber resilience

INTERPOL is urging African governments to strengthen digital forensic capabilities, improve cross-border intelligence sharing, invest in AI training for investigators and deepen collaboration between governments and the private sector.

The organisation also calls for stronger legal frameworks to tackle AI-generated intimate imagery and enhanced protection mechanisms for victims of digital sextortion.

For Ghana, where digital payments, social media use and online services continue to expand rapidly, the report serves as a warning that the country’s digital transformation must be matched by stronger cyber resilience.

Without improved investigative capacity, public awareness and coordinated action among financial institutions, telecom operators and law enforcement agencies, INTERPOL cautions that AI-powered cybercrime is likely to become even more sophisticated and damaging in the years ahead.

 

 

 

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