By Thandi Skade
About 90 000 vehicles are stolen around South Africa per year, but thanks to a vehicle DNA system that makes a car what criminals call "contaminated" - the number looks set to decrease.
The Data Dot Technology uses 10 000 dots just 1mm in diameter that are laser-etched onto 88 positions throughout the interior of the car with a 14-digit unique identification number using either the VIN or chassis number for new cars or a predetermined PIN number for used cars.
The dots are made of high tech polyester substrate particles suspended in a clear drying adhesive with a Ultra Violet (UV) trace.
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Data Dot SA director Derek Menday explained that the unique ID number serves as a vehicle DNA that police are able to use to identify the original owner of a vehicle should it be stolen and criminals try to alter the particulars of a car.
"Police recover a lot of stolen vehicles, but it is often difficult to track down the owner because VIN numbers are either changed or duplicated on a different vehicle," Menday said.
He said that organised criminal syndicates have become sophisticated in producing "virtually legitimate" licence discs and VIN compliance plates that correlate with the disc, making it impossible to identify the real owner of the car if it is not fitted with Data Dots.
"Organised crime is shifting towards what is called cloning or rebirthing," he said.
Cloning is when two cars (one stolen and the other legimate) have the same registration and vehicle particulars.
Rebirthing on the other hand, Menday explained, is when the identity of a stolen vehicle is used on a car that has been written off and due to be sent to a "chop shop" (spare parts workshop).
Criminals, he said, go to a chop shop and purchase a written-off car cheaply. They then fix up the car and use the identity of the stolen vehicle on the written-off car, which they then resell to car dealers, making a significant profit in the process.
In one case study, a vehicle that was supposed to be crushed was suspected stolen because its VIN number showed the car to be a 2003 model, but the car looked newer than the number would suggest.
The licence disc appeared real and the VIN compliance plate confirmed the disc. However, the car had been fitted with Data Dots and it was found that the vehicle had been rebirthed.
Menday said 5 000 SAPS officers from the Vehicle Detective Units have thus far been trained in the Data Dot technology.
Using black light technology and a scope, the adhesive florescence of the Data Dot goes purple under the light and the PIN or ID number of the car is enlarged 60 times.
The dots - which are virtually invisible to the naked eye - are sprayed onto the car in 3 minutes, 11 seconds and cannot be removed.
"They stay there for the life of the car," Menday said.
Data Dots are Vehicle Security Association of SA approved, cost a once-off payment of R1 550 and can be applied at 48 fitment centres nationwide.
All cars fitted with Data Dots will have a sticker placed on the back quarter glass window, alerting potential hijackers that the vehicle DNA system has been applied to that car.
According to information provided to Menday by the police, he said: "They (police) have seen a 52 percent decrease in hijackings among cars fitted with Data Dot because they know how it affects their business."
For more information contact Data Dot on 086-1328-2368 or e-mail info@datadot.co.za
- This article was originally published on page 10 of The Star on August 26, 2008
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