SOUTH AFRICA – As more South Africans turn to online food and grocery shopping, with approximately 40% of adults now participating in digital retail, criminals have increasingly focused on the delivery workers.
The shift from in-person to online shopping is accelerating, particularly among middle-class to upper-class consumers, signaling a significant growth trajectory for the market.
Over the past decade, more South Africans have turned to the convenience that online retail offers driving the growth of the e-commerce market.
Annual revenue from online shopping reached R4.43 billion in 2013 and has surged to over R71 billion by 2023 with projections estimate that it will exceed R100 billion by 2026 and potentially R120bn to R130bn by 2029.
However, delivery drivers on motorbikes, who serve as the backbone of this booming industry, have become easy targets for criminals who are exploiting this rapid growth in digital retail.
A recent Trade Intelligence survey indicated that more than a quarter of South Africans plan to increase their online grocery shopping this year and this demand has not gone unnoticed by criminals, who have quickly adapted to exploit it.
Delivery drivers, particularly those on motorcycles, are now the quick target of a criminal syndicate that lure them into unsafe areas under the guise of a legitimate order and rob them.
Between April and June 2024, over 5,400 hijackings were reported across South Africa’s nine provinces—an average of around 60 per day, according to Businesstech news site.
During the same period, more than 8,600 cars and motorcycles were stolen, meaning approximately 96 vehicles were stolen daily.
Cartrack, a vehicle recovery service, and the South African Police Service (SAPS) have both reported a sharp increase in incidents targeting delivery motorcyclists. SAPS has also identified Checkers Sixty60 and Mr Delivery motorcycles as particularly frequent targets.
In so many cases, the criminals place fraudulent orders with the sole intent of ambushing the delivery driver and seizing their motorcycle and any valuable items they may have.
Some delivery drivers have even speculated that the perpetrators are colluding with insiders within the delivery industry, who might be tipping off hijackers or even coordinating thefts.
This coordination makes the crimes more difficult to prevent and has fueled concerns about the safety of these essential workers.
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