From the AFR:
Skype calls and passports being held up to a screen are some of the methods conveyancers are using to verify overseas buyers of Australian property.
While face-to-face interview and original documents are routinely used to verify parties in transactions between locals, the ad-hoc processes conveyancers are using to check the identity of offshore clients raises risks that buyers may not be who they say they are.
New rules for the first time require lawyers and conveyancers to take “reasonable steps” to verify the identity of a buyer, similar to the 100-point check banks conduct. Many law firms say that means a face-to-face interview and sighting of original documents.
…The insecure practices are well known throughout the industry.
“A Skype conversion with a foreign person you’ve never met holding up a passport that could have been manufactured for the purpose of defrauding a property transaction can be facilitated,” said Scott Talbot, a Hong Kong-based property marketer who until recently lived in Beijing. “That is not reasonable steps. That’s foolish.”
My question is: was Australia always so full of arseholes?
