Man 'flabbergasted' after scammers sell his home

[Jim Goose]

Well seeing as most people in a particular thread are calling for the hanging of tow truck drivers and geriatric old people because of a simple mistake...

Heres some perspective people....

Man 'flabbergasted' after scammers sell his home

Updated 1 hour 56 minutes ago


A Perth man's house has been sold by scammers

Roger Mildenhall was living overseas when he found out that his property had been sold in June. (7pm TV News WA)

* Map: Karrinyup 6018
* Related Story: Perth man scammed out of his home

A Perth man whose house was sold without his knowledge says he was "flabbergasted" when he heard the news.

Roger Mildenhall was living overseas when he found out last week that his property in Karrinyup which, was worth almost $500,000, had been sold in June.

He returned to Perth to find a second property he owned was also about to be sold.

Mr Mildenhall says scammers emailed his real estate agent saying he wanted to sell and even produced duplicates of the deeds to the house.

"It's been done electrically (sic) using faxes and emails and mobile phones and they have been backwards and forwards to my agent using an internet cafe," he said.

He says his neighbour told him about the sale last week and he returned to Perth just in time to stop the sale of the second property.

"They said that the house that was my rental property, had already been sold and that the locks had been changed in my own home and that was about to be sold as well," he said.

Mr Mildenhall has hired a lawyer in an attempt to get his property back and police are also investigating the scam.

Consumer Protection Commissioner Anne Driscoll says it is not yet known how the scammers succeeded.

"This is a very rare event; I'm not aware of another occasion where this has happened and it's therefore absolutely critical that settlement agents and real estate agents verify carefully that the person they're organising a sale for is actually the owner of the property," she said.

"The details of the scam need to be fully investigated for us to understand exactly what happened and how this dupe actually was so effective."

Real Estate Institute West Australian (REIWA) spokeswoman Anne Arnold said yesterday that agents need to be vigilant.

"It is increasingly going online and you have investors who own properties from abroad and they own properties in WA and you are reliant on email," she said.

"It is a really important message that you need to be doubly careful if it's overseas."

She says changes may have to be made to prevent future scams.

"The Real Estate board and REIWA would look at the need for agents to do a little bit more work around identity, but it does raise a lot of implications for agency practice so I guess we've got to think about that," she said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...12/3009345.htm