Real estate institutes to tackle Nigerian property scams

A national approach to thwart Nigerian property scammers is on the agenda of the upcoming meeting of state real estate institute chief executives.

Leading the push is chief executive of the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia Anne Arnold, given there have been two cases in her state in recent times where homes have been sold without the owner’s knowledge by scammers.

Since the owners of two properties in Perth lost their properties, the WA government has introduced 100-point identity checks.

“We think if they can do it here, there is every chance they will try somewhere else,” Arnold says.

“I understand that the WA Department of Commerce has been communicating with their counterparts in other states and in fact I’m in Canberra for a meeting with my counterparts of other real estate institutes and it is one thing that I’ll be raising with them.”

Nigerian scammers also attempted to sell a Sydney house they did not own, less than a month after the same scam was successfully carried out in Perth.

She says estate agents were finding that the new identity checks for people selling property have been well received by the public.

“The two Nigerian property scams that have occurred in WA in recent times have been possible because identity checks have not previously been a requirement as part of the listing process when selling a home.

“However, as technology has advanced it has become possible for scammers to fake an identity and present themselves to a real estate agent as the legitimate owner of a property they don’t in fact own,” Arnold says.

In both Nigerian property scams that occurred in Perth, con artists were able to convince the agent, the settlement agent, the banks and Landgate that they were the title holder and could sell the property.

Once the transfers had occurred and the sales settled it became apparent that everyone had been duped, including the legitimate owners of the houses.

The WA state government has since implemented a system whereby the seller of a property must produce evidence of identity in much the same way as bank customers must when opening an account.

“Some agents were concerned this new onus on sellers might meet with some resistance, especially from long term and repeat clients well known to the agent, but I’m pleased to report that generally sellers understand this new requirement and endorse it,” Arnold says.

When sellers are unable to be with the agent at the time of listing their property they must have their identity documents sighted by a suitable witness such as JP, doctor, police officer, pharmacist, etc.

“We understand that this is probably inconvenient for sellers and agents, but most people would agree that it’s a small price to avoid another such incident.”

This article first appeared on Property Observer.