Ntuen Promise Ekenmini was arrested yesterday when he visited an international courier office and tried to collect settlement documents with a forged driver’s licence in the name of the real South African home owner.
Ekenmini is expected to be charged with forgery and identity theft.
The arrest follows an eight-month investigation by WA Police, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and authorities in South Africa and Nigeria.
Police allege the attempted fraud began when Ekenmini contacted the property manager of a WA real estate agency in December 2012 claiming to own a home in Falcon, south of Perth, which was being managed by the agency.
an Australian home: fake sale by Nigerian
He requested documents relating to the rented property and allegedly used a Yahoo email address in the name of one of the real owners, and requested future correspondence be forwarded to that email and phone calls to be made to a new mobile number.In January, the agency received a request to sell the property and a sales agreement with false signatures was completed by the offenders and returned to the agent.
Copies of fake passports and a forged document purporting to be from the Australian High Commission in Pretoria confirming their identity were also sent.
However, suspicions were raised by staff at the agency, who worked with WA detectives to identify the offenders.
The AFP liaised with South African and Nigerian police, who monitored the controlled delivery of the fake settlement documents in Johannesburg and Nigeria.
Detective Senior Sergeant Dom Blackshaw said investigations were continuing into other possible offenders, and potential links between this case and two successful and five attempted frauds reported in WA in the past five years.
Six of the seven cases involved owners who lived in South Africa, had investment properties in Perth that were rented and had their identities stolen, he said.
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