The scam that's swindling people out of their homes started in Western Australia but now appears to be spreading across the country.

Perth homeowner Roger Mildenhall had been living in South Africa, when he returned home to find his $485,000 investment property had been sold, and his family home close to settlement.

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“I thought I was having my leg pulled and I was sure that they were having fun at me, but it turned out that it was all true,” Mildenhall said.

Mildenhall's shocking case had authorities pulling out all stops to tighten legislation, but now it’s happened again. A family living overseas returned home this week to find their Ballajura home in Perth's north was sold six months ago.

Nigerian fraudsters impersonated the owners and conned a local real estate agent into urgently selling, saying the proceeds were needed to fund a petro-chemical business.

Landgate’s Registrar of Titles in Western Australia, Bruce Roberts is shocked and concerned.

“What we’re concerned about is the increasing nature of the degree of sophistication, the nature of what they’re doing in terms of documents, in terms of some degree the bravado, of people actually making telephone contact now with the real estate agent,” he said.

Roger Mildenhall is left holding a legitimate legal title for a home he legally owned and paid for, but no longer has any right to.

Landgate inadvertently issued a new duplicate title to the scammer’s agent so the sale could proceed. The scary part is that there is no recourse except for legal action for owners like Mildenhall.

“The person who has purchased the property, who is innocent of the fraud, actually gets the title to the property, and whoever is on the title is actually the owner, even if a previous owner has been defrauded out of the property,” Roberts said.

Real estate crusader Neil Jenman feels that “it’s easier to steal a house than it is to buy one.”

Jenman says that not everyone who sells a house is asked for identification. “So all you need to know is the name of the person who owns the house, and to pretend you’re that person and presto, you can steal their house.”

It has happened in the US, the UK and now Australia’s also a target according to solicitor Tim O'Dwyer.

“If you have people who are absent from their home and don’t have a mortgage on their home, those sorts of people are prime targets for this sort of identity theft and home theft,” he said.

“There is no real way to absolutely protect yourself. The best you could do is to take out title insurance,” O'Dwyer advised.