A house in Canberra was sold without her knowledge when she was overseas. One of the few increasing cases where South African based syndicates facilitate and run real estate scams that attempt to fool homeowners and real estate agents.
The sale of the Canberra home dates back four months passed but was just discovered weeks ago when the owners contacted her agent and asked why the rent payments where late.
Police in Canberra are investigating the case and have been in communication with South African authorities where the fraudsters are confirmed to be operating real estate scams.
“Police will investigate a series of exchanges which led to the sale of the property without the owner’s knowledge or consent, and the disbursement of the funds generated by the deception,” a police spokeswoman said.
According to real estate legal experts, there is ambiguity of over who will be the financial loser in such fraud cases, depending on legal and conveyance checks. The original owner has the right to challenge the new buyer in order to return the title of ownership of the house. If the challenge is unsuccessful, they would have to pursue the money from the completed sale through legal channels overseas as compensation.
Attorney-General Simon Corbell said real estates and potential home buyers must be vigilant and extensively identify the sellers of the property with proper identification cards and supporting documents.
“It’s critical that they identify that the person seeking to sell the property is the actual and proper owner of the property,” he said.
“Clearly that transfer has been affected due to what would appear to be a fraudulent act and that’s now under investigation,” Mr Corbell said.
We at National Brokers Network Business Brokers Victoria extensively verify properties and the profiles of the property sellers with due sellers as our firm’s commitment for transparency and vigilance against fraud. We also ask both buyers and real estate agents to be vigilant against potential scams.
