NIA to Clamp Down on Fake Motor Insurance Operators

The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) has taken a step further in its fight against fake motor insurance policy through its recent launch of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code *565*11# .

NIA, said the service data would enable motorists verify the authenticity of their insurance policies.

The Chairman of the NIA, Tope Smart, at the launch in Lagos, said the solution was designed to bring insurance closer to the people and ultimately eliminate fake insurance certificates in the market.

The NIID, was incepted in 2010 to eliminate fake motor and marine insurance certificates in the market. It went live in 2011 and has since then been helping motor vehicle users to check the authenticity of their motor insurance certificates on the internet and through dedicated hand held devices.

Smart, said the objective of the NIID was to serve as an authentic database of the Nigerian insurance industry data providing qualitative statistics/ analysis of the industry data as well as a vehicle for easy verification of genuine insurance certificates by all stakeholders and to reduce incidences of fraudulent insurance transactions especially for motor and marine policies.

He said the industry has continued to reap the benefits of the scheme, adding that prior to the establishment of the platform, cloning and faking of insurance certificates was a thriving business, but the establishment of the database has assisted the industry in reducing the incidents of fake insurance certificates in the market and that presently, there are over three million vehicle details on the platform.

He noted that the platform has been enhanced to include stolen vehicles and claims reporting modules in response to the challenges thrown up by actions of suspected fraudsters that made multiple claims with the intent to defraud the industry over the last few years.

“The NIID platform had been operational nationwide, but with challenges in verification in areas with poor internet coverage.

“Verification of motor certificates through the dedicated devices became highly impaired due to the vicissitudes of internet operations in the hinterlands. This led to the introduction of the USSD technology.”

He described the USSD as a Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) technology used to send text between a mobile phone and an application programme in the network.

According to him, it works independent of internet connectivity, adding that in this instance, any mobile phone (not necessarily a smartphone) would