The South African Police Service has achieved a minimum 50% recovery rate for stolen vehicles microdotted since 2007; however, recent reports of illegal service providers offering microdotting from the boot of their cars are putting consumers at risk of being defrauded.

“The end result will not be reliable,” says identification technologies developer DataDot sales director Derek Menday, who urges consumers to ensure that they microdot their cars with a reputable service provider that complies with national legislation requirements.

“The irony is that these illegal service providers are usually not even cheaper than legal providers and supply customers with fraudulent certificates to present to the police,” he says.

The use of microdots has proved to be a power- ful deterrent in the fight against vehicle theft in South Africa, Menday tells Engineering News.

“South Africa introduced the SANS 534-1 [standard] and Regulation 56 last year in September, which require all new vehicles to use microdotting. In addition, reregistered vehicles are also required to be microdotted before a police clearance certificate can be issued for a recovered stolen vehicle, an engine change or export and import clearance,” he notes.

The microdot system involves the mixing of 10 000 disc-shaped microdots, typically 1 mm in diameter, into a special adhesive, which is colourless when dry, but fluoresces under ultraviolet light, and spraying the adhesive onto a vehicle.

Menday explains that 10 000 microdots are sprayed onto both covert and overt places throughout the body of the vehicle. Police officers know where to look for them or traces of the fluorescent glue, or for signs of attempted removal. Seven thousand of these are applied to carefully selected covert places throughout the interior of the vehicle.

“Sixty per cent of all cars stolen in South Africa remain in the country and most stolen cars on the roads are subjected to identity fraud,” says Menday.

He adds that microdotting vehicles secures the identity of the vehicle, ensuring criminals cannot change the identity of a stolen car.

Previously, only the VIN, a 17-digit number, and engine number, which are unique to each vehicle, and number plates had to be changed, but criminals now have to look for 10 000 VIN dots.
“Each of these dots, when viewed under a pocket microscope, will clearly show the vehicle’s 17-digit VIN, repeated several times in a pattern. Underpinning this is scarce and expensive technology, patented and regulated, to which criminals will not have easy access,” he notes.

A vehicle carrying a microdot-warning sticker, therefore, becomes unattractive to the middleman and runner stealing the car.
“Instead of quickly destroying or altering a few pieces of incriminating evidence, the middleman has to get rid of 10 000 pieces of irrefutable evidence, some of which are hidden in unexpected places.
“In addition to preventing car theft, microdot technology is also aiding police investigations, often providing an early breakthrough by facilitating easy identification of recovered vehicles,” Menday concludes.