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Many short-term insurers in South Africa still depend on their own internal blacklists or basic industry lists when processing device claims. While these tools help, they are no longer enough in today’s fraud environment.

Here is why most insurers continue to lose money on cellphone, laptop, and tablet claims.Fraudsters know exactly how the current system works. They simply avoid claiming with the same insurer twice and spread their claims across different companies. Because each insurer only sees their own data, the same stolen device can be successfully claimed multiple times.Another big problem is speed.

When a device is reported stolen today, it can take days or weeks before it appears on a shared blacklist. By then, the fraudulent claim has often already been paid.Many fraudsters also use cloned IMEI numbers or slightly altered serial numbers. These tricks easily bypass older blacklist systems that only check exact matches.The result is clear. Fraud cases jumped 46% in 2023, with losses reaching R175.9 million. A large portion of these losses comes from device claims that could have been prevented with better tools.

A proper shared device registry solves these gaps. It gives every participating insurer instant access to real-time information across the entire industry. You can immediately see if a device has been reported lost by another company, if it is still active on the network, or if it has multiple claim attempts.This changes the entire claims process from reactive to proactive.

DeviceRegister.co.za was created to give South African insurers this exact advantage. It is simple to use, secure, and built specifically for the local insurance market.Claims teams that use the registry report faster decisions, fewer fraudulent payouts, and much stronger evidence when declining suspicious claims.The insurance industry cannot afford to keep doing things the old way. Every rand paid out fraudulently increases premiums for honest customers and damages the reputation of the entire sector.

Take Action Today.

• Register your company for free and start verifying devices immediately.
• Book a 15-minute demo and see exactly how the registry works in your workflow.

Protect your claims budget before the next fraudulent device claim reaches your team