Zambia Moves to Secure Digital Economy with Nationwide Fraud Awareness Drive
The initiative comes as new statistics show that nearly 80% of Zambians were targeted by digital fraud in the past year, with mobile money scams alone costing over K120 million annually.
Zambia has launched a nationwide Joint Fraud Awareness Campaign to combat the rising threat of digital fraud, which has inflicted heavy losses on citizens and the economy. The initiative comes as new statistics show that nearly 80% of Zambians were targeted by digital fraud in the past year, with mobile money scams alone costing over K120 million annually.
Operating under the theme “Be Fraud Smart: Protect Your Money, Protect Your Identity”, the campaign unites government institutions and leading telecom and financial service providers. Partners include the GSM Association of Zambia, Zamtel, MTN, Airtel, Zed Mobile, the Bank of Zambia, ZICTA, and Payz. This collaboration underscores a shared commitment to protect consumers and restore confidence in digital platforms as Zambia’s economy continues to digitize.
The government outlined both legal and technological measures to fight online crime. The Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act provides the legislative framework, while new tools such as AI-powered fraud detection, real-time transaction monitoring, and biometric verification are being deployed to prevent identity theft and SIM swap attacks.
Public awareness, however, remains central to the campaign. Information will be disseminated nationwide through radio, social media, roadshows, and SMS alerts in English and local languages. The success of the *707# reporting system—credited with saving Zambians over K21 million this year—demonstrates the power of citizen engagement. The campaign encourages the public to remain vigilant and to “Report, Verify, and Protect” their money.
Looking forward, the government announced five strategic actions to ensure a sustainable response to digital fraud: establishing a National Fraud Intelligence Taskforce, launching a Digital Trust Index, introducing a Cyber Hygiene Curriculum in schools, expanding the *707# reporting platform into a full fraud response portal with victim support, and creating a Fraud Risk Dashboard for regulators and operators to track and predict threats.
Officials emphasized that the launch is not a one-time event but the beginning of a long-term movement to secure Zambia’s digital future, protect citizens, and strengthen trust in the country’s financial and communications systems.
