I also used to work with a government attorney. He often would check out property which had been sold for taxes etc. He would then contact the owner and offer them something like a hundred dollars for their right of redemption.
This is typically six months and allows the person whose property was sold to redeem it by paying the taxes and expenses of the sale.
He said often the person would not be aware that the property had been sold and would immediately redeem it.
Another way they pull off scams is when the requirement is just that they offer the property during the legal hours of sale on the steps of the court house. The crooks would pick some odd hour and walk out to the steps and offer the property to their own guy. They would do this so quick that no one else would have a chance in the unlikely event that someone else would be there.
All confiscations and sales made by local or State government to recover fees, taxes, debts etc, must be publicised in newspapers here downunder. A public auction by a licensed auction company or management agency follows, and that event is also advertised. The story above says officers of a court simply mail out a letter to the last known address of an owner?