A properly performed notarial act lends fundamental trust and confidence in a transaction. It’s that trust that powers our economy and boosts consumer confidence. Criminals understand that, too, and for decades, they have hatched nefarious schemes to forge images of authentic notarial stamps to create the illusion that a valuable document has been notarized.
The losses can be extremely high when they use the stolen seal impressions to forge things like mortgages and powers of attorneys, and unknowing citizens can lose everything. The problem has become even worse in recent years with advancements in digital imaging and artificial intelligence, which make the fakes even more convincing.
Curious about the NNA Community’s experiences, we recently asked our thousands of followers on Facebook: Has anyone ever tried to steal or copy your Notary seal?
With more than 80 responses so far, Notaries are continuing to share their experiences. Here are a few highlights:
Notary Desiree Novajosky of Atlanta, Georgia reports her seal image was stolen recently and she had to jump through several hoops to protect herself:
“I Had to file a theft claim report and go get a new commission from the Clerk of Superior Court and I had to vary the (commission) name according to the rules in GA. I also reported it to my E&O carrier as well.”
Susy Martin, of Las Vegas, Nevada, posted a harrowing report involving a title company:
“I was a signing agent for 10 years. A manager at a [Title Company] forged my signature and stamp on a deed of trust. The document did not have any legal Notary wording on it, and I missed it because of that … Just a line where I was supposed to sign. After about two weeks I got a frantic call to come to the office immediately and recreate the forged document because they had faxed it over to the lender already. I was furious … I quit that day.”
San Marcos, California Notary Karen Andrews Farley reports her seal was stolen by a criminal who lacked some skills in the forgery department.
“A few years ago, a couple of detectives met with me to confirm my signature and stamp. (The forger) did pretty good on the stamp but terrible on my signature. I had met with (the forger) a couple weeks prior to notarize his signature on a document.”
The issue has even affected employees of the NNA. Most recently, our Vice President of Government Affairs Bill Anderson learned that criminals had scraped his expired commission information from a database of Notaries, then created a fake seal image from it with an altered expiration date, making it appear valid.
“It used to be that bad actors would scrape a Notary's credentials from a recorded real property document that they got from the recorder's office. Now, all they have to do is find a (database of Notaries) and they can go fishing. It has to stop.”
Every week on social media we ask you — the nation’s Notaries — to share your experiences on our “Question of the Week” threads. We’d love for you to join in the conversation! Look for our “Questions of the Week” on the National Notary Association’s Facebook page. We can’t wait to hear your stories.
Note: The experiences and opinions expressed in the featured posts above are individual comments and are not official positions of the National Notary Association. Some featured posts were lightly edited for length, grammar, style, and clarity.
Phillip Browne is the Vice President of Communications at the National Notary Association.