Morocco strengthens defenses against financial scams amid rising phishing threats

Nabil Badr, Director of Banking Supervision at Bank Al-Maghrib, highlighted this during a workshop in Rabat, co-organized with the National Financial Intelligence Authority. He noted that cyber-scams are now viewed as a significant risk to digital trust, financial inclusion, and the fight against illicit financial flows, rather than just banking fraud. Global financial fraud losses reached 442 billion dollars in 2025, according to Interpol's Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment report.

Fraudsters are increasingly targeting individuals through social engineering tactics like fake SMS messages, fraudulent calls, malicious links, and identity theft, rather than solely exploiting technological vulnerabilities. This poses a strategic challenge for Bank Al-Maghrib as Morocco expands financial inclusion, develops digital payments, and reduces cash usage, making public trust in digital tools crucial. Bank Al-Maghrib's analysis, supported by the Financial Action Task Force, indicates that proceeds from cyber-scams often fuel international money laundering and other financial crimes.

This broadens the scope of anti-phishing efforts to include financial integrity, involving banks, judicial authorities, financial intelligence services, and law enforcement. In response, Bank Al-Maghrib has reinforced its prudential framework, issuing a gu