Fighting vehicle crime through industry collaboration
While South Africans are very passionate about their country, one of the negative aspects which we cannot seem to overcome is that South Africa still has a significant reputation of being known as a crime hotspot. While this has decreased slightly over the past few years, rampant vehicle crime is becoming an economic disaster for the South African insurance industry.
This was the theme of the presentation by Hugo van Zyl, Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of the South African Insurance Crime Bureau (SAICB), at the 2014 Insurance Conference.
Identifying the root
One of the major themes of Van Zyl’s presentation was that the industry needs to become more vigilant when it comes to fighting fraud within the industry. All industry role players need to be involved as the industry simply does not have the capacity to fight against criminals at the same rate at which criminals are committing crimes within the industry.
“We need to share important information with each other in order to combat this issue. There are elements of professional jealousy within the industry and this needs to stop as it is hurting the industry. We need to identify the roots where fraud within the industry is taking place. The Road Accident Fund (RAF) is one of the biggest hotspots for fraud as there are thousands of phantom passengers who lodge claims with the fund every year,” said Van Zyl.
Another significant issue to face within the industry is the challenge of cloned vehicles, which Van Zyl numbered at thousands upon thousands. As South Africa is the only vehicle manufacturing hub in Southern Africa, it is unfortunately a hotspot for vehicle fraud. These vehicles are then taken to Mozambique, Botswana and Lesotho where crimes are committed.
“At these borders, authorities are not checking to see if the licence plate number matches up with the VIN number and the engine number. Therefore, once these vehicles cross over the border, it is hard to get them back into South Africa. This is becoming insurer’s worst nightmare.
A culture of violence
South African news headlines are usually based on violent and corrupt crimes. Since 1994, violent crimes have been steadily increasing in South Africa. This is only getting worse as it is being funded and driven by forces which are out of the industry’s control.
“The vehicles which are being transported over the border are mostly top of the line sport utility vehicles (SUV) and four wheel drive vehicles. These vehicles are placed on order by clients in neighbouring countries and hijackers in South Africa commit the crimes. The violent nature of these crimes is increasing in that the latest motives of hijackers are to keep the family hostage until the vehicle has crossed the border. Once this has taken place, a phone call gets put through to the hijackers to let the family go,” said Van Zyl.
Part of the operations of the SAICB is to place undercover agents in the field in order to try and prevent these crimes from happening. Intelligence gathered by these officers shows that there is also a drug element involved in these cases, as many of the hijackers are committing the crimes to chop up the cars and sell the spare parts in order to get money to fund their drug addiction.
These incidents are not isolated. They are being run and funded by crime syndicates which are becoming increasingly mobile and are using military tactics to carry out their crimes. They are using military grade jamming devises which can jam all electronic signals within a range of over a hundred kilometres. These devices are easy to purchase and can be bought for under R550.
Deterrent initiatives
After reading the above, many would ask what the SAICB is doing to curb the seemingly rampant crime which is affecting the industry. Van Zyl points out that there are training initiatives being conducted with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), the South African Police Services (SAPS), and countries within the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
“Through cross border initiatives we are going into national impound yards in order to clean them up and unearth any cloned or hijacked vehicles. We are also trying to increase the capacity of the SAPS to do full analysis of blood alcohol tests, and we are also attempting to stop the number of accidents which occur in South Africa,” said Van Zyl.
There are also eighteen fraudulent cases which have been taken to court which have amounted to R4.2 million. There are currently thirty cases which are under investigation which have also amounted to R58 million. Van Zyl pointed out that to date, the total amount saved for member companies comes to R114 million, while the SAICB has saved R70 million for uninsured members of the public.
Editor’s Thoughts:
Data sharing has a crucial role to play in the fight against vehicle crimes. Insurers need to collaborate in order to make any headway in combatting this scourge which is plaguing the industry. Please comment below, interact with us on Twitter at @fanews_online or email me your thoughts [email protected]. To view an exclusive interview with Van Zyl regarding this topic - click here.
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