Scammers Sell House While Owner Is Away

Internet scammers conned a real estate agent into secretly putting an expatriate Australian man's home on the market. He returned from overseas to learn that one of his two properties had sold and another was under contract without his prior consent.

Roger Mildenhall, who had been living in Cape Town, South Africa, rushed home to Karrinyup, Australia after a neighbor alerted him to the sale, reports WA Today. The perplexed Mildenhall had owned the duplex outright after he bought it in 1989 for his now-deceased parents. Apparently, the house was put on the market after a series of e-mails from very convincing scammers, purporting to own the home, were sent to a real estate agent asking for the duplex to be sold due to financial hardship.

Even the most experienced scammers can be foiled from selling your home, however, if some simple precautions are put in place, say experts.