Three arrested in South Africa after WA home sale scam

Three people were arrested in Johannesburg earlier this week, following a five months investigation by the Major Fraud Squad of the Western Australia Police.

Working with the Australian Federal Police and South African authorities, the Major Fraud Squad have arrested and charged Asanda Zimkhitha, 28, of South Africa and Magnus Ikechukwu Kama, 38, and Nbubusi Sunday Okeke, 34, both of Nigeria with fraud, forgery and uttering.

The trio allegedly emailed a Mandurah real estate agency, which was managing a property owned by a South African person, pretending to be the owner.

After convincing the agency to change the owner’s contact details to their own, the three individuals allegedly asked to sell the property, communicating electronically and signing the agreements with forged signatures.

The property was put on the market and an offer accepted by the group, still pretending to be the owner. Hard copy documents were sent to the real owner’s real address in South Africa by post and the true owner contacted the agent, telling them the sale was unauthorised. The police were then contacted.

Last year, a separate fraud attempt occurred when Ntuen Promise Ekenmini collected documents regarding a fraudulent Falcon home sale (near Mandurah), also owned by a South African. Ekenmeni allegedly collected the document at a Lagos courier office, using a fake driver’s licence.

Detective Senior Sergeant Dom Blackshaw of the Major Fraud Squad of the West Australian police acknowledged the work of South African authorities and the Australian Federal Police.

“This successful outcome could not have been made possible without the excellent support and cooperation of the AFP and local authorities in South Africa,” said Blackshaw.

“This spirit of cooperation means that offenders who attempt these frauds can’t hide behind international borders, and we will be working effectively and cooperatively to make sure they are identified and caught.”

He also told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the trio won’t be extradited from South Africa.

"We won't prosecute for the attempt here because they will be adequately dealt with in that country and obviously save that large cost and the time spent trying to bring people into our country to try and prosecute,” Blackshaw told the ABC.

"We're hoping that these three, that are now going to be interviewed by the South African authorities, will even throw more light on how they are operating and the extent of the group,” he continued.

West Australian Commissioner for Consumer Protection Anne Driscoll said real estate and settlement agents must be wary of fraud attempts.

 “Unfortunately these fraud attempts will undoubtedly continue so all agents need to be vigilant at all times and have the processes in place to detect these fraud attempts at an early stage,” said Driscoll.

“It is an essential part of the identity verification procedures for any change of contact details by an owner to be confirmed by the real estate agency by sending a notification to the original addresses, both physical and electronic, that are on file. This will alert the real owners at an early stage if their details are being changed fraudulently,” she said.

“This confirmation should occur before any documents are sent which could give criminals even more information about the real owners and the property they are trying to sell. Requests to change details by owners of WA property living in Africa should raise a red flag and warrant special attention to property managers.

“There have been two successful and now six attempted real estate frauds reported to us in the past six years and all except for one of those cases have involved owners in South Africa. The other owner resided in Nigeria. Property managers who receive change of contact details and agents who receive sale requests from South African and Nigerian owners should apply intense scrutiny,” said Driscoll.

Under the Codes of Conduct, real estate and settlement agents have an obligation to make sure they carry out sufficient identity checks and compare all signatures against originals. If they fail to comply, they may be subject to disciplinary action.