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.
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