Beware: over 50% of cybercrimes in Africa use AI (and the trend will reach Latin America)

A warning you can't ignore: Interpol has just published alarming data: in Africa, more than 50% of cybercrimes now use artificial intelligence tools. Scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated and personalized, making them harder to detect.

How do these scams work? Criminals use AI to: create fake voices identical to real people (audio deepfakes), write deceptive emails personalized for each victim, analyze stolen data to identify more valuable targets, and automate mass attacks.

Why should you be concerned in Latin America? What happens first in one region generally replicates in others. If cybercriminals discovered that AI works for scams in Africa, they're already using it here. Reports of mass scams using deepfakes and personalized emails are increasing in Mexico, Brazil and Colombia.

Real risks for your business: If you run a company, you could receive emails that appear to be from your CEO requesting urgent transfers (but written by AI). They could call you and sound exactly like your sales manager (voice deepfake). Your employees could be more easily deceived because messages are hyper-personalized.

What to do now: Implement stricter identity verification, even with known people. Be suspicious of urgent or unusual requests. Train your team about these risks. And have approval processes for money transfers, no matter who requests them.