For any South African, becoming a statistic in the country’s rising vehicle jamming figures is a very real danger. Over the past three years, the country has experienced a significant amount of vehicle jamming incidents, also known as remote blocking.

Vehicle jamming or remote blocking happens when criminals block a vehicle’s remote signal by simply pressing down on a gate remote while the vehicle owner presses down on their immobiliser to activate the vehicle alarm and the central locking.

“Most vehicle and gate remotes operate on the same frequency, making it easier to interfere with the signals. Thus, a driver will be under the impression they’ve locked their vehicle while they haven’t,” explains Hannes Smith, Head of Personal Lines Sales & Operations at Old Mutual Insure.

Old Mutual Insure urges all South Africans to be vigilant when exiting their vehicles and to make sure it is properly locked.