South African insurer Santam is implementing mobile phone messaging technology from US-based Clickatell to launch a text-based fraud reporting system.
The text system enables people that are involved in, aware of or witnessing an insurance scam to anonymously tip Santam off by sending an SMS text message.
Clickatell says the use of its text message infrastructure helps Santam to respond quickly and appropriately to reported incidents, reducing the probability of fraudulent or false claims being paid out.
Jerry Chetty, head of forensic services, Santam, says: "We expect our text-based fraud tip line to become the de facto standard across the insurance industry. We expect it will be an efficient and reliable form of communications as the immediate nature of SMS is providing us with the ability to quickly act on fraud tips and maintain high levels of service. We anticipate that it will evolve from receiving text only messages to also be able to receive photos and video clips of unethical behaviour as they occur."
"SMS has proven itself to be an efficient and reliable form of communications in the financial services sector and has received widespread adoption due to it's immediate, real-time relevance characteristics ," adds Pieter de Villiers, CEO of Clickatell.
In addtion to the fraud tip-off service, Santam has been working with Clickatell to bolster its corporate call centre to reach customers via SMS more effectively at a lower cost, says the vendor.