Speaker 1: Right, let's turn to this. Now. It's a worrying story,
Speaker 1: but it's also a story in which maybe collecting of
Speaker 1: some good and useful advice might allay some of those fears,
Speaker 1: because the reality we're just about to talk about is
Speaker 1: indeed out there and present, and it's probably quite a
Speaker 1: good idea that we share this with you. This is
Speaker 1: prompted by the way by story in Business Tech. I
Speaker 1: just want to acknowledge that Malcolm liber has written the piece.
Speaker 1: The headline is or the first paragraph homeowners are being
Speaker 1: worn that repeat break ends are on the rise in
Speaker 1: South Africa, with criminals returning for replaced valuables or things
Speaker 1: they could not steal the first time. And this was
Speaker 1: prompted in turn by something said by my Way Insurance,
Speaker 1: the executive head for Claims and Procurement there Yulon and
Speaker 1: I Do was the person that Malcolm interviewed. Right, let's
Speaker 1: get into this in some more detail, and welcome to
Speaker 1: seven oh two drive Garth to Cleric CEO of the
Speaker 1: Insurance Crime Bureau. Mister de clerk, welcome and thanks very
Speaker 1: much for your time. Is this an established pattern? First
Speaker 1: of all, I mean, what does your data or your
Speaker 1: experience tell you about this that if people know their
Speaker 1: way how they got into the first place. I suppose
Speaker 1: in the first place, I suppose logically they think why
Speaker 1: not do it again.
Speaker 2: Oh, good afternoon, John, and thank you very much for
Speaker 2: the opportunity to talk about this. I think just before
Speaker 2: we start, if I could say, you know, the headline
Speaker 2: should maybe read that there's an increase in house robberies, right,
Speaker 2: not only in return events or return incidents. So you know,
Speaker 2: let's not worry about just I'm going to be burgled twice.
Speaker 2: Let's warn the community that at this present time, because
Speaker 2: of the economic conditions that are presidents in South Africa,
Speaker 2: we have to be careful as residents that we could
Speaker 2: at any time be hit. And so that's the first
Speaker 2: thing going to your point that 'lln made from my way,
Speaker 2: is that we are seeing an increased trend in bad
Speaker 2: actors returning for your goods once they've been replaced by
Speaker 2: the insurance companies. Again, not a new trend. I mean,
Speaker 2: this has been around for years. Guys are pretty clever.
Speaker 2: They've broken into your house successfully the first time, it's
Speaker 2: a bit of a doddle to do it the second time,
Speaker 2: because normally the first thing you do is just fix
Speaker 2: one or two areas and then replace your TV, your
Speaker 2: cell phone, your watchers, et cetera, et cetera. And it's
Speaker 2: not that difficult to get through a light level of security.
Speaker 2: So it is happening, but we have to be careful
Speaker 2: as residents of both repeat and the initial event.
Speaker 1: What does one do though, Because I mean you've already
Speaker 1: taken and knock, there is probably physical There may well
Speaker 1: be physical damage to your property you massively unsettle. There
Speaker 1: may be family members who need at the very least
Speaker 1: support and possibly even counseling. And in the midst of
Speaker 1: all of that, you've got to start thinking to yourself,
Speaker 1: how do we do this differently? And I would have
Speaker 1: thought the range of options are severely constrained either by
Speaker 1: the physical nature of where you live or the state
Speaker 1: of your finances.
Speaker 2: I think it's the state of your finances. You know,
Speaker 2: physical security around your house is certainly not cheap. And
Speaker 2: again you know it's You're quite right. In a return event,
Speaker 2: people are rattled, They are emotionally traumatized. These actors that
Speaker 2: are out there looking to abuse you are not mass people.
Speaker 2: They don't care. They will make use of the fact
Speaker 2: that you are not maybe paying attention and that you
Speaker 2: slightly rattled side advices to people do what you can,
Speaker 2: you know, rather than spend money on increasing your hard
Speaker 2: and security around your house, whether that be paalis ade fence,
Speaker 2: electric fences, beings in the garden that will set off
Speaker 2: before the individuals reach your property. Take a look at
Speaker 2: does your alarm work when lost? Did you test your alarm?
Speaker 2: Do you set your alarm whenever you go out? You know,
Speaker 2: even if you're popping out full load for bread, put
Speaker 2: your alarm on. These people are watching you.
Speaker 1: How do insurance companies regard this phenomenon? I mean, is
Speaker 1: there any consideration for a period of vulnerability that a
Speaker 1: family or individuals or a couple or whoever it is,
Speaker 1: that period of vulnerability after they've been broken into? Or
Speaker 1: is it barely assessed weld here's the second burglary end
Speaker 1: of story.
Speaker 2: So I can't really speak on behalf of the insurers, John,
Speaker 2: because there are so many of them in South Africa
Speaker 2: right However, my experience with the insurance industry has always
Speaker 2: been one of they are there to hold, They are
Speaker 2: there to restore restore individuals to the position that they
Speaker 2: were in before an event. So whether it's burglary number
Speaker 2: one or burglary number two, they do try and help
Speaker 2: you through the event and help you to retain a
Speaker 2: regain a position that you were in before. But how
Speaker 2: do you regain your level of comfort? You know, your
Speaker 2: your kingdom has been invaded? Yes, And unfortunately insurers are
Speaker 2: not psychologists. You know, it's very difficult to give that
Speaker 2: person their comfort level back once an event has ecupped.
Speaker 1: Let's look at some other trends while we have you that.
Speaker 1: If that's okay, god declark. I mean, one of the
Speaker 1: things that I've always wondered about when you see a
Speaker 1: dip in burglary numbers in the crime stats, whether that's
Speaker 1: a reflection of a reduction in that crime or a
Speaker 1: reduction in the levels of the population who could afford insurance?
Speaker 1: Do you have any insight into that? Because I would
Speaker 1: have thought, with the best will in the world, given
Speaker 1: the financial pressures so many South Africans are under insurance,
Speaker 1: might be one of the things that bites the dust.
Speaker 2: Correct And I think John, you've hit on a very
Speaker 2: good point. You know, one of my favorite stories that
Speaker 2: I hear from people is how their cell phones were
Speaker 2: snatched when they're looking at their social media standing outside
Speaker 2: the restaurant waiting for their takeaway pizza. I reckon only
Speaker 2: a small percentage of those type of events handbag snatching,
Speaker 2: cell phone snatching, laptop snatching are actually reported because of
Speaker 2: the underinsured population. You know, insurance is expensive, and as
Speaker 2: you just said, in terms of economic pressure, one of
Speaker 2: the areas people will cut back on is the insurance
Speaker 2: because you know, I feel safe and I'm not going
Speaker 2: to let myself and be stolen while atop is stolen,
Speaker 2: et cetera. So is there an underreporting of events? I
Speaker 2: would say definitely yes. What percentage of South Africa is ensured?
Speaker 2: Never too sure, but I know that only about thirty
Speaker 2: percent of the car park of South Africa is ensured,
Speaker 2: So thirty thirty five percent of the vehicles that you
Speaker 2: see on the road I enshured. Is that correlated to
Speaker 2: house insurance personal insurance? I really don't know.
Speaker 1: John, Yeah, thank you very much. Garth de Clerk joining
Speaker 1: us on seven two Drive. He is the CEO of
Speaker 1: the Insurance Crime Bureau. Perhaps you've had that experience directly
Speaker 1: yourself where you had a burglary and then people came
Speaker 1: back again. It certainly happened to me once, but is
Speaker 1: this a common pattern? Insurance and others are out there
Speaker 1: warning people that you need to at least the very
Speaker 1: least assume that this could be a possibility. Give us
Speaker 1: a call on that on O double one eight eight three,
Speaker 1: O seven O two and O seven two seven O
Speaker 1: two one seven O two