What You Don’t Know Does Hurt You
Microdotting
An assumption that we tend to base our arguments on, here in MaliLock, is that no individual, who owns and cherishes a high value asset and has consequently taken the extra step of having it insured, would be in a good mood when the reality dawns that day by day, he or she is being ripped off financially through circumstances that are relatively under his or her control. We have given ourselves an obligation to raise awareness on the existing problems that would be addressed to a huge extent by the use and adoption of Microdot Technology. It would not be a surprise that our statements would stand the test of time.
While our major focus is on the reality within Kenya’s Insurance Industry, it is in our opinion that the challenges the country is presently experiencing, i.e. identity cloning and an unregulated 2nd-hand parts market, are not unique to our nation and we would stress to the key stakeholders tasked with addressing the existing predicaments, that rather than ignoring the on-goings within the Kenyan sphere when no obvious response exists… as at the time of publishing this article, no solid solution has been given to the vehicle number plate duplication crisis that’s been highlighted ever since the dusitD2 Hotel terrorist attack (Juma, 2019), and instead of exhausting resources on developing experimental solutions to the unique challenges that pop-up every now and then, the best and easiest approach is to adopt responses that have been used in other countries that have had the specific problems in their past or present history and whose industries are more advanced in comparison. Along this line, our basic research indicates that the Automotive Policies of South Africa’s and India’s jurisdictions would be good comparisons for Kenya to develop replicas from.
The ‘background problems’/criminal gimmicks facing Kenya’s Automotive scenery should be conscious within every Kenyan. The key stakeholders (government authorities, insurance companies and banks) should be challenged to find permanent solutions to the obvious problems, failure to which all of us as citizens of the republic will repeatedly be victims of insurance fraud since the resulting effects would continuously be trickling down in the form of higher insurance payments, increased taxes and inflated prices of consumer goods.
A Collective Response to Insurance Crime
- No individual organization has the resources to single-handedly stop these criminals. It takes a concerted team effort, backed up by the key stakeholders, to fight back against insurance criminals.
- Safeguarding of assets starts with understanding those who commit insurance fraud, how and why they do it. The why is obvious; greed for money, encouraged by a thriving second-hand market, is the motivating factor.
- Insurance criminals are not easily identifiable as they typically do not carry weapons and can range from dishonest lawyers, unscrupulous vehicle repair facility operators to your neighbor who has been thriving through fraudulent insurance claims.
- A key case is the recovery rate of stolen vehicles in Kenya, which has been decreasing over the years. Unidentified recovered vehicles end up being cloned and sold to unsuspecting consumers, exported to other countries or stripped at a chop shop with the parts being sold and fitted on another vehicle of a similar model. Recovered vehicles which cannot be retraced to the original owner end up being auctioned off or destroyed.
YOU are a Big Part of the Solution
Two things can be done right now to help in the fight against fraud:
- Shield yourself from becoming an insurance fraud victim by arming yourself with knowledge of how this crime is undertaken and taking additional steps to safeguard your assets… GET THE DOT!
- If you come across insurance fraud activities, you should undertake your civic duty and report your observations to the relevant authorities.
Works Cited
Juma, V. (2019, February 20). Business Daily. Retrieved June 20, 2019, from Business Daily Africa: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/news/KRA-uncovers-number-plates-scam/539546-4990538-1nu20p/index.html
Next Insurance Blog. (2018, April 26). Car Stolen: What To Do After An Auto Theft In Kenya. Retrieved June 27, 2019, from Next Insurance: https://www.nextinsurance.co.ke/blog/car-stolen/
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