Zim Now News Desk

Zimbabwe’s fast-growing digital economy is opening new opportunities for business, banking and jobs, but also creating fresh openings for cybercriminals using fake investment platforms, phishing links, SIM-swap fraud, mobile money wallets and bogus job adverts.

A recent analysis by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) warns that criminal networks displaced from South East Asia may increasingly look to Africa for “new, more permissive locations”.

Zimbabwe is listed among countries considered vulnerable, with the report citing risks around digital payments, online recruitment, cryptocurrency, gambling, business process outsourcing and weak cybercrime oversight.

But available public information does not show that Zimbabwe is already hosting large cyber scam compounds similar to those uncovered in parts of South East Asia or in some African countries.

In response to the media on the likely proliferation of such syndicates in Zimbabwe, the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe indicated that China does not shield cyber criminals: “Regardless of perpetrators’ nationalities or whether their illegal acts are committed within or outside Chinese territory, China fully co-operates with judicial authorities worldwide to hold offenders criminally accountable to the fullest extent permitted by law. Combating transnational organised crimes including cross-border cyber fraud and human trafficking cannot be accomplished by any single country and calls for joint global efforts." 

For now, the more visible threat to ordinary Zimbabwean pockets is online gambling.There is Kandege, the local name for the Aviator-style crash game developed by iGaming software company SPRIBE and carried by betting platforms. Online sports betting is also draining small balances through football accumulators, live betting and quick mobile deposits that make gambling feel like a daily side hustle.

The danger is that these platforms sit directly on the phone, turning US$1, US$5 or US$10 into repeated bets within minutes. Unlike a hidden cyber scam compound, online gambling does not need a secret office to cause damage. It reaches users through betting platforms, social media promotion, WhatsApp tips, peer pressure and the belief that knowing football means one can beat the odds.

For regulators, this makes online gambling a consumer-protection issue as much as a cyber-risk issue: who is allowed to offer the games, how they advertise, how they verify age, how they warn users, and how much money is leaving household budgets through the smallest screen in the home.

Other cyber risks are also visible. The E-Creator case remains the clearest example of a large Zimbabwe-based digital fraud allegation involving a foreign national. Chinese national Zhao Jiaotong is accused of running an online investment scheme that allegedly defrauded Zimbabweans of about US$1 million.

According to court reporting, the State said it had 688 complainant statements from people who allegedly lost money after joining E-Creator. The company operated from Joina City in Harare and allegedly received investments through various EcoCash subscriber lines.

The fraud was not run from an invisible offshore cloud. It had a physical footprint in Zimbabwe that made it possible for authorities to identify suspects, make arrests and take the matter to court.

The same applies to more recent EcoCash-related scams. In October 2025, the Zimbabwe Republic Police said they were looking for a suspect in connection with fraudulent SIM replacements and hacking involving US$17,009.50 and ZWG30,665,912.30.

Police said the suspect gathered personal information through “phishing, data breaches, or accessing public records” before using “social engineering tactics to bypass security questions”.

According to ZRP, once the SIM swap was approved, the suspect gained “unauthorized access” to victims’ personal data, withdrew money from mobile wallets and bank accounts, and took control of WhatsApp accounts to request cash from victims’ contacts.

In another case reported in 2026, 11 suspects appeared in court accused of defrauding EcoCash users through fake “free data” offers. The alleged scheme involved phishing links, one-time password harvesting and wallet transfers.

These cases show that Zimbabwe’s cybercrime problem is already present in everyday digital systems used by ordinary people and the risk is that more sophisticated transnational networks could exploit the same weaknesses at larger scale.

Interpol’s 2025 Africa Cyberthreat Assessment says online scams and phishing remain among the most frequently reported cybercrimes across African member countries. It says criminals increasingly exploit social media, digital commerce and mobile banking, with phishing accounting for about 34% of cyber incidents detected across Africa.

That fits Zimbabwe’s own risk profile. ZimStat’s 2025 second-quarter labour force report put national unemployment at 20.7%. Youth unemployment was 39.3% for those aged 15 to 24, while 47.6% of that age group were not in employment, education or training.

Zimbabwe also has a fast-growing digital payments ecosystem. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s 2024 Financial Stability Report says digital payment transaction values continued rising, with average monthly growth of 26% in 2024.

That increases the need for stronger monitoring, faster investigations, tighter SIM-swap controls, better oversight of online investment schemes and clearer rules for gambling, crypto and payment platforms.