A reality television personality known to fans as “Betty Idol” is behind bars in Volusia County after investigators say she played a central role in a real-estate fraud scheme that funneled nearly $200,000 from a buyer into a fake escrow account. Salomé Rengifo Jackson, 40, a New York City resident, was arrested following a nearly year-long investigation into the fraudulent sale of a vacant parcel in Orange City.
According to the sheriff's office, as reported by WKMG ClickOrlando, the case began when a buyer wired nearly $200,000 to a purported escrow and title account connected to Old Republic Title. Detectives determined that the setup was not legitimate, per the affidavit, and that the legitimate owners' identities had been used to make the property appear for sale. Investigators say the stolen funds were wired into a Bank of America account labeled “Old Republic Title LLC.”
Victims reported being scammed out of around $196,000, per the affidavit, in September 2025. Investigators say Jackson personally received about $178,786.65 of the stolen funds and, per the affidavit, exercised direct control over accounts used to receive the money, transfer it through multiple business accounts, and withdraw or spend the proceeds. Detectives allege she was a central figure in receiving, moving, and spending the stolen money.
Fake Identities and Multiple Bank Accounts
Investigators say multiple accounts were allegedly opened using stolen identities, and detectives traced transfers and withdrawals across those accounts as part of the probe. Investigators also reviewed records tied to how and where the money was withdrawn and spent. Jackson now faces charges of money laundering, grand theft, organized scheme to defraud, and using another person's identification without consent, and she is being held on $275,000 bond in Volusia County.
The scheme fits a pattern that has become increasingly familiar to real estate professionals nationwide. A 2025 survey by the National Association of Realtors found that 62% of all title and deed fraud cases involved vacant land, making undeveloped parcels the single most common target for scammers, since owners of empty lots rarely inspect them or monitor registry changes. Title insurer Old Republic Title has separately published advisories warning that seller impersonation fraudsters commonly pose as legitimate title agencies, using spoofed company names and fake notary stamps to intercept wire transfers.
A Familiar Face From Reality TV
Jackson built a public following as a VH1 reality personality, appearing as a cast member on Season 5 of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta in 2016 and later as a featured cast member on Cartel Crew from 2019 through 2021. She is also a recording artist who was featured on Rick Ross's 2014 single “Thug Cry.”
Jackson has also been part of a high-profile, and far more personal, legal saga in Florida. Her 17-year-old sister, Giselle “Gigi” Rengifo, was fatally shot at a Miami Airbnb in May 2020, a case that ended with the shooter receiving a boot-camp sentence in September 2022, a decision Jackson publicly protested at the time, according to Local 10 News. The shooting suspect in that case admitted to pulling the trigger but claimed it was an accident.
Part of a Wider Pattern in Central Florida
The Orange City case is not an isolated one for the region. Central Florida law enforcement has confronted similar vacant lot scams before, including a March case in nearby Flagler County in which a woman was arrested for selling properties she did not own using altered driver's licenses, per WNDB. Investigators in that case traced wire transfers through bank accounts into cryptocurrency.
Statewide, authorities have increasingly prioritized land fraud prosecutions. In June 2023, the Florida Attorney General's Office secured a multi-year prison sentence and $300,000 in restitution against a fraudster who falsely listed land across seven Florida counties, a case that involved more than 40 victim buyers, according to Florida Realtors.
Potential Penalties and Local Protections
Under Florida Statute § 817.034, an organized scheme to defraud involving property or money valued at $50,000 or more is classified as a first-degree felony punishable by up to 30 years in state prison. The money laundering charge Jackson faces is similarly serious: under the Florida Money Laundering Act, conducting financial transactions involving illegal proceeds exceeding $100,000 within 12 months is also a first-degree felony carrying up to 30 years in prison, and Florida law allows automatic asset forfeiture for funds tied to money laundering activity.
Complex financial fraud cases involving multi-account wire transfers typically undergo extensive pre-arrest document review by State Attorney Economic Crimes Units before warrants are submitted to judges, which helps explain why the Volusia County Sheriff's Office investigation stretched nearly a year before Jackson's arrest. Financial crimes detectives generally must analyze bank records, IP logs, and wire trails across multiple institutions before building a case.
Volusia County property owners have a local tool available to help guard against this kind of identity-based scheme. County Clerk of Court Laura E. Roth maintains a free Property Fraud Alert system that automatically emails property owners whenever a deed, mortgage, or land document is filed under their name. It remains unclear whether additional co-conspirators helped generate the altered owner identification documents used in the Orange City sale, or whether other properties in Volusia or surrounding counties were targeted as part of the same scheme.
