Why fraud awareness is a key pillar of digital resilience

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

Every year, conversations about digital advancement tend to focus on innovation. We celebrate faster networks, smarter platforms, seamless payments and the opportunities that digital transformation continues to create for individuals, businesses and governments.

Yet there is another conversation that deserves equal attention: Online safety.

As digital adoption has accelerated, so have the risks accompanying it. The same technologies that make it easier to transact, communicate and access services have also created new opportunities for criminals to exploit trust and vulnerability.

Digital adoption has transformed how we live and work. Small businesses can reach customers nationwide from smartphones, entrepreneurs can launch online ventures and families can send and receive money instantly.

These advances have unlocked enormous economic potential, particularly in markets such as Kenya where digital financial services have become an integral part of everyday life.

But the success of the digital economy depends on one essential ingredient: trust. People must feel confident that they can communicate, transact and share information safely online.

The scale of today's online risks highlights why that trust cannot be taken for granted.

According to the Communications Authority of Kenya Cyber Security Report, Kenya recorded 3.7 billion cyber threat events between January and March 2026.

The report also recorded 68.7 million malware attacks, 46.4 million brute-force attacks, 12.1 million web application attacks and 8.2 million DDoS (Distributed Denial-Of-Service) attacks underscoring the growing scale of cyber threats facing the country.

According to the Central Bank of Kenya's Financial Sector Stability Report, fraud losses in the banking sector reached Sh1.59 billion in 2024 with cyber fraud cases more than doubling to 353.

These trends remind us that digital safety is no longer solely a technical issue. It is a societal issue that affects individuals, businesses and institutions alike.

I recently reflected on a business owner who had embraced digital tools to grow her enterprise. Payments, customer engagement, and orders were all handled digitally. One day, she received what appeared to be a legitimate call requesting information to secure her account. The caller sounded convincing, and she complied. Within seconds, she became a victim of fraud.

What she lost was more than money. She lost confidence in the very digital platforms that had helped her business succeed. That experience highlights an important reality: many online threats do not rely solely on technological vulnerabilities. They often succeed by exploiting human behaviour including trust, urgency, curiosity and the instinct to be helpful.

This is why fraud awareness has become one of the most important pillars of digital resilience.

Today's fraudsters are increasingly sophisticated. They impersonate trusted organizations, create convincing digital experiences and use social engineering techniques designed to pressure people into making quick decisions.

Take for example, a customer who receives a call from someone posing as their bank or mobile provider and is convinced to share an OTP or personal details. Within seconds, the fraudster completes a SIM swap, accesses the customer’s mobile banking details and steals their funds. Similar tactics are used in impersonation scams where criminals pose as executives, suppliers or customer service agents to trick victims into revealing sensitive information and making payments.

Across industries, organizations are investing heavily in strengthening identity verification, implementing multi-factor authentication, monitoring suspicious activity and regularly training employees on cyber threats. These preventative measures play a critical role in detecting and preventing fraud before it causes harm.

Yet technology alone cannot solve the problem. An informed digital user is more likely to recognise suspicious activity, verify information before acting, protect personal information and report potential threats before others become victims. Awareness remains one of the most effective forms of defense.

Building a secure digital economy requires collective responsibility. Industry leaders, regulators, educators, businesses and consumers all have a role to play in strengthening digital trust. As emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence reshape the digital landscape, fraud tactics will continue to evolve. Awareness must evolve with them.

Innovation will shape the future of the digital economy, but trust will sustain it. And while technology can help us identify threats, it is awareness that empowers people to avoid them. That is what will keep our digital economy strong, resilient, and trusted for generations to come.

The writer is the Group Chief Risk Officer, Safaricom PLC.

Reporting originally appeared via Business Daily. Read the full source for additional context.