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HOME SHOCK
She might have never known if not for the renovations she was completing
- Isabelle Hajek, Freelance News & Blogs Reporter
DESPITE a joyful court day win, one victim of fraud has yet to see reconciliation put into practice.
Raevene Wiggins had become a victim of quit claim deed fraud, taking the matter to court and winning.
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A Dayton, Ohio local, Wiggins became aware of the fraud in June of 2023 while trying to do home renovations.
While seeking out the proper line of approvals for her renovations, she was told that she no longer owned her home, reported local NBC news affiliate WDTN.
Only days before she was told about the title change, a fraudulent quit claim deed was filed transferring ownership to the fraudster.
Quit claim deeds are legal documents that allow a person to transfer ownership of a property to another person without proof of sale.
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They are commonly used to gift homes between family members and can be legitimate legal documents, but the one taking Wiggins' home was not.
A few days after discovering the fraud, the true homeowner took the matter to court, suing for the home to be returned to her name.
In an inspiring twist, the court returned a relatively quick decision, ordering that the Montgomery County Auditor return the home to Wiggins through proper paperwork.
She thought this would be the end of the ordeal, having won a difficult legal battle, but instead, she was met with the auditor refusing to adhere to the court order.
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Claiming that there are additional steps to be taken prior to the deed being returned to Wiggins, the auditor has demanded that she file the court order as the new deed.
This action will "invalidate" the fraudulent deed, but the scammer's document will remain attached to the history of the home.
My family's home was sold behind our back - deed was signed over after they died but cops said 'nothing they could do'
Upon receiving this instruction, Wiggins' concern was twofold.
From an emotional perspective, she abhorred the idea of having to relive the fraud ordeal while filing, and then every time after when she might have to reference the paperwork.
Considering a more practical worry, Wiggins feared that the fraudulent deed being attached to the home's paperwork would impact her ability to seek out loans to renovate the home.
As of February 2024, the court order had yet to be carried out and the fraudulent deed remained on file.
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As Wiggins had been intending to do in June of 2023, Wiggins feels she must renovate the property to carry on a family legacy.
“This property has been in my family for…40 years,” she explained.
“So this is pretty much like the last thing that I have of my grandmother…my uncle. So that’s why it means so much to me.”
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In order to take care of the property, including its renovations and upkeep, only made possible through loans, are necessary.
“My goal for the property is to have it renovated and be able to live in it and to stay inside my Daytonian roots,” she said.
WHAT IS DEED FRAUD?
DEED fraud is a general term used to catergorize any for of fraud used to commonder someone's home illicitly through seemingly legal methods
Some forms of this fraud are committed in typical grifter fashion, through smooth-talking scammers targeting down-on-their-luck targets, sometimes promising loan forgiveness or mortgage refinancing.
Other times, as with many quit claim deed fraud schemes, the scammers forge the paperwork to show they own a person's home without the true owner ever knowing.
David Fleck, a South Carolinian real estate lawyer said that technological advancements have allowed more sophisticated fraudsters to make quit deed scams commonplace.
“Twenty-five years ago, it wasn’t easy to forge documents. Now, literally, every computer has the technology to create a believable forgery, and you can buy a fake notary stamp online," he told Realtor.com.
"So the technology has very quickly gotten ahead of the systems we have in place to prevent this,” warns Fleck.
In any form of deed fraud, the victim seldom knows about the scam until long down the line when they try to apply for a loan or need paperwork on the home and it turns out they no longer are the owners.
Then, the only way back to homeownership is a potentially emotionally draining and lengthy legal battle.
