Scummer Gets 19 Years

By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics and access other forums reserved for members. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today by clicking here.

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:07 am

Thought you people would like some enlightening reading. Smile

http://www.zdnet.com.au/police-claw-back-nigerian-scam-funds-339303331.htm

I heard that scummers are getting millions out of Aussie land. This following story was headlines two weeks ago.

A family was overseas. When the family returned home, they found another family living in the house.

A Nigerian scummer had sold the house. The former owners had no comeback except I would have thought they would sue the real estate agent.
There has been no follow up story yet.
This is the third time I have heard of this happening.

Cheers Smile

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:35 am

I bet Alan had something to do with it, probably acting on our tips.

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 11:44 am

Hi Vonpaso,

Maybe Alan did. But what country is Alan in? Perhaps Alan is more that one man, to do the job he does.

I don't want to know actually. The less I know about Alan the better for him.

There is another story from Aussie Land "Nigerian Sting"

Worth reading but it could be improved with a bit of excitement for what it is.

I like to hear about scummers getting done.

http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/stories/liambartlett/266309/the-big-sting

Cheers

Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:37 pm

Entomologist wrote:

A Nigerian scummer had sold the house. The former owners had no comeback except I would have thought they would sue the real estate agent.

This is the second time I have seen someone comment that the former owners couldn't get their house back. Is this something that only happens in Australia?

http://forum.419eater.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1734715#1734715

As noted in the previous thread, I (and several others) have never heard of such a thing. If you legally own property and someone falsely sells it (claiming to be the owner), you don't just lose the property forever -- once the theft has been uncovered it should eventually be returned to the rightful owner.

I am really curious. Is this truly something that can happen in Australia or is it just internet rumor?

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:15 am

Hi Dora,

It is happening.

In Aussie land real estate transactions are different to USA. A "seller" signs an authority with a real estate agent (rea). It is a permit to sell the property. A buyer places an offer. If the seller accepts they sign the offer and it then becomes a contract.
Once monies are handed over it is called settlement. The contract finishes. The buyers are the new legal owners.
Their names are on the title (deed). It is up to the former owners to contact and sue the scammers. With police help of course.
Rea s are not required to confirm identity of sellers. This is the big problem. It has been such for some years and the people in power have been slow to act.

The number of property scams is escalating. Three in Perth and 3 or 4 in Sydney. I don't have total figures.

One such scam:
Sydney, owners were on extended holiday overseas. The scammer became a tenant in the house next door. He collected the mail from the vacant house. The rest of the neighbours asumed it to be an arrangement with the absent owners. This nice new neighbour was "house sitting"
A quick sale was effected. The scammer had paid a month's rent in advance and everyone thought he would be back. He did the disappearing act.

Yes there are failings in the system. It needs to be addressed. I bet if a politician was victimized, the system would be changed and retroactive.
(back dated) So that the victim is not out of pocket.

Cheers

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:50 am

Hi Ento

This seriously makes no sense. How in the world can a sale of anything be legal if it was stolen property to begin with?

If someone stole your car and then sold it, is that sale legal over there?

Quote:

It is up to the former owners to contact and sue the scammers. With police help of course.

But the legitimate owner would get it back, correct?

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 3:16 am

Hi Dora,

With a car: Different legislation is in place.

Real estate was never a problem until the scummers started and the overpaid under worked over important people in power have their heads in the sand.

Government in Australia attracts a lot of negative comment. In this case it is justified. And yes it seems ridiculous. Getting anything done about it is like mating elephants.
"Its done at a high level.
Its accomplished with a lot of roaring and screaming.
It takes two years to get results."

Cheers Smile

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 3:33 am

Totally shocking.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 1:14 pm

Yeah interesting reading

Quote:

Romance scams up "1000 per cent"

As well as standard Nigerian play, Hay said the police were continuing to see an evolution of different types of internet scams and frauds. One of the types was romance scams, which he saw as "a major problem".

"We've had a 1000 per cent increase in romance scams in the last three years," he said.

"When we first looked at some of our studies and the money going to Nigeria, we identified three years ago [that] 7 per cent [was] in relation to romance scams, yet three years down the track we see that's increased 1000 per cent and now forms 70 per cent.

"So there's still a lot of work to be done."

So 70 percent are romance scams, there must be some sad and lonely idiots out there to be honest.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 2:29 pm

Australian law must be stupid. Don't they have land registry, here every property has ownership recorded and on sale the real owner has to sign over property.

Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 12:26 pm

wowwow wrote:

Quote:

So 70 percent are romance scams, there must be some sad and lonely idiots out there to be honest.

Careful. Romance scams target the lonely. Some of those victims have lost a partner or been dumped so sad is probably true too. But please don't call them idiots.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 17 Jun 2011 Posts: 11

DoraTheExplorer wrote:

Hi Ento

This seriously makes no sense. How in the world can a sale of anything be legal if it was stolen property to begin with?

If someone stole your car and then sold it, is that sale legal over there?

Not sure about cars, but my former boss has just bought a $58,000 boat. He has just discovered that the boat was originally stolen. It has been sold on five times by people who became aware of its history and got rid of it. They may or may not be charged with dealing in stolen property, but they don't lose the money they got from the sale.

My former boss, though, because he was 'found' with the boat, loses that to its original owners (or the finance company who originally had it for sale). He will probably be charged with receipt of stolen property, although they would have to prove he knew it was stolen.

Definitely rubbish!

Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:39 am

Hi KatherineB, Smile

That is what happens with cars. If the car is found it is returned to the original owner.

There was a story some years ago in the newspaper. A car 4x4 was returned after many years. It was about 10 or 15 years. I can't actually remember the figure but it was a long time.

Houses are different. Purchasers and vendors enter into a contract.

Yes the law is stupid. ( Devil Woman) Crying or Very sad

It should protect the legal owner.
But as I mentioned earlier, this current goverment is not the fastest car in the race, nor is it the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Cheers Smile

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:05 am

Having been a Real Estate Agent, I find this is absolutely revolting. The real owners should have some sort of recourse and it should be mandatory that the REA's check for validity of the true ownership BEFORE accepting to place a home on the market.

If I were the purchaser, you can rest assured I would be suing someone (mainly the real estate company for not perfecting a valid sale by validation of the owner's true ownership).

Also, in real estate there, before a purchaser closes on the home, is title insurance required? In other words do you have title companies that check on current and past ownership to see if there are clouds, imperfections and liens on the property?

Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:32 pm

Hi Morgain Le Fay, Smile

The failings in the system as far as I can see are:
Buyers and vendors are currently not required to produce ID.
Solicitors acting for the parties are not thorough. This is mainly due to this kind of scam being new. No one expects it to happen. Rolling Eyes

There is little available to any one involved in the transaction to check the validity of vendors.
The government is proscrastinating in reviewing any changes to the legislation.
Its not an area where they will secure more votes.
Sales contracts can be executed without vendors in attendance.
Even neighbours, as in the link in my former post do not become suspicious.
The scammer was clever in renting the house next door, collecting mail from the vacant house. Its an accepted thing in Australia.
He only needed to find out the names on the registered title.

It is very wrong indeed. It needs to be changed. I am only a pawn, please don't shoot the messenger. LOL. Smile