South Africa accounts for between 96% and 99% of all cars reported stolen in Southern Africa. Of these, however, one in five is believed to be a fake hijacking, says the Institute for Security Studies (ISS).
In a report to be released this week the ISS says some car-owners ”cooperate with networks that target people with financial problems and offer to ‘get rid of’ their vehicles so that the owners can report a hijacking and claim from insurance. The car is then sold illegally.”
ISS researchers Jenni Irish and Kevin Qhobosheane write: ”In most cases it is the network that makes the first approach to the car-owner, and not the other way around.” They say that hijackings increased after anti-theft devices made non-violent theft more difficult.
There are cases ”where a vehicle has been stolen but the driver fraudulently reports that he was hijacked because of a mistaken belief that insurance companies are more sympathetic toward hijacking victims. In some cases, hijackings are staged as a means of registering a car previously stolen or hijacked.”
They add that ”the process of re-registering a stolen or hijacked car in this manner can be done within a day, sometimes suggesting police involvement”.
Irish told the Mail & Guardian that one persistent problem is that insurers ”no longer do investigations because of the high number of hijackings. But there are often very strong telltale signs, for example when someone has spent too much on their cars and can no longer afford the repayments.”
She added that border posts could be controlled more tightly to ensure that people did not drive their cars across the border, sell them, then claim they were hijacked.
”I know from personal experience that you need a letter from your bank if your car is financed by the bank, giving you permission to cross the border. Very seldom have I been asked for that letter.”
Irish also called for greater collaboration between insurance companies, the police and customs officials.