Scammers are setting all-time records for illicit profits, and Notaries are squarely in their sights. It isn’t because Notaries are uniquely gullible — these scams target everyone. But Notaries make especially tempting targets for a few specific reasons:
- A Notary’s name, phone number, and email are often listed publicly so clients can find the Notary
- Many Notaries regularly work with companies and signers they have not met before
- Notaries regularly participate in high-value transactions where a single successful fraud scheme can mean a payoff of six figures or more for scammers
In 2025, scammers caused $15.9 billion in losses for American consumers, and this year it may be even higher. The good news is that nearly every one of these scams runs the same play. Once you recognize the pattern, you can spot them in seconds. Here is a quick look at what the scams look like, followed by important tips you can follow to defeat them.
The pattern behind scams targeting Notaries
The formula is always the same: a message comes from a trusted-looking source, coupled with a sense of urgency and a strong push to “act now.”
Examples can include:
- A spoofed email that looks like it's from a real company.
- A text that mimics a delivery you're expecting.
- A social media message from a “friend.”
All you have to do is slow down, pay attention and avoid the scam. Here are other examples to watch out for.
A special warning for Notaries
Two scams that target our profession directly have been recently reported by Notaries:
- The fake signing assignment. A “company” or “client” offers you notarization or signing work, then sends a check or payment for more than your fee and asks you to refund or wire back the difference. The original payment later bounces — and you’re out the money you sent. No legitimate client overpays and asks for change.
- Closing wire fraud. During real estate signings, scammers impersonate a title company or buyer and email altered wiring instructions. Always verify payment instructions by phone using a number you already have on file — never one from the email itself.
Scams arriving by email
- Callback phishing (the “Zoom” scam). A fake billing alert claims you were charged for something, and instead of a link, it lists a phone number to “dispute” the charge. The email can appear to come from a real company’s official address. The big clue: legitimate companies don’t resolve surprise charges through a phone number buried in an email.
- Payment-platform traps. A PayPal-style request that looks like it genuinely comes from the real platform, but lists a recipient that isn’t you. Logging in to “decline” the charge is exactly what the scammer wants, as they grab your login info.
- Impersonation of trusted authorities. Emails posing as government offices, title companies, or other trusted authorities that ask you to “renew,” “verify,” or “update” your information. Watch for addresses that don’t quite match the real domain and any demand for payment by wire, gift card, or cryptocurrency.
Scams arriving by text (‘Smishing’)
- Unpaid toll alerts — a tiny, believable amount ($3.25, $7.40) with a link to a fake payment page built to harvest your card.
- Delivery problems — messages impersonating USPS, FedEx, or UPS claiming a package is stuck behind an “address issue” or “fee.”
- Bank “confirm this charge” — a text asking you to reply Y or N. Replying simply confirms your number is active and routes you into a call with a fake “fraud department.”
- Unintended Recipient — Scammers sending you a text, acting like it was incorrectly sent, hoping to strike up a conversation and get you to reveal personal private information.
A growing number of these texts are just the front door to a phone scam — the same hand-off to a human that powers the callback email above.
Scams arriving through social media
This is where the largest dollar losses are now happening — roughly $2.1 billion reported in 2025, with nearly a third of all scam victims saying it started on a social platform.
- Investment schemes are the single biggest money-loser. Ads, fake “advisers,” and group chats full of staged testimonials promise guaranteed or risk-free returns, often with AI-generated celebrity endorsements. Reputable advisors don’t pitch specific strategies this way.
- Shopping scams are the most common: ads for steep discounts that lead to knockoff goods, or orders that never arrive.
- Romance scams, increasingly blended with fake investment pitches, build trust over weeks before manufacturing an emergency or “opportunity.”
- Impersonation and account cloning — using scraped photos and posts (and sometimes deepfakes) to create a mirror account that mimics your tone and then hits up your clients, friends, and followers.
A reliable red flag across all of these: the scammer wants to move the conversation off the platform — to WhatsApp, text, or email — where it's harder to trace.
How to protect yourself from scams
A few cautious habits can prevent nearly every scam described above:
- Verify through your own path, never theirs. Never click the link, number, or login in a suspicious message. Open the company's real app, type its website yourself, or call a number you already trust.
- Never reply to suspicious texts — not even “STOP.” Replying confirms your number is live. Delete and block, then forward the text to 7726 (SPAM).
- Treat unusual payment requests as a stop sign. Wire transfers, gift cards, cryptocurrency, or “refund the overpayment” requests are hallmarks of fraud.
- Be skeptical of any unsolicited investment pitch, especially with guaranteed returns or a celebrity face.
- Never grant remote access to your device to anyone who contacts you out of the blue.
- Don’t assume polish means legitimacy. AI has erased the old typos and broken grammar — a flawless message is no longer proof it’s real.
- Shrink your public footprint. The personal details that make these scams convincing are often scraped from data-broker sites and your own public posts. The less that is out there, the harder you are to target — and the harder you are to impersonate.
The bottom line to keep Notaries safe
You don’t need to memorize every scam variation. You need one reflex: when an unexpected message creates urgency and asks you to click, call, pay, or share, pause and verify independently. That single pause is the difference between a deleted message and a stolen identity.
Phillip Browne is Vice President of Communications at the National Notary Association.