Telephone scammers posing as members of law enforcement are targeting Notaries across the country, threatening to jail them unless they pay a “bond” or “fine” of thousands of dollars.
The scam is a variation of one that has been used for years targeting members of the general public. However, in recent weeks the Notary Bulletin has been receiving reports from various Notaries around the country who have been targeted specifically because they are Notaries.
Various law enforcement agencies — including the U.S. Marshal’s Service and police departments in California and Texas — have posted warnings about scams like this. The overriding message from authorities is that they will never contact people by phone and ask for any type of payment in order to avoid arrest. Anyone who does so is trying to scam you.
According to the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the con artists employ a variety of tricks to appear credible. “They sometimes provide information like badge numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials and judges, and courthouse addresses. They may also spoof their phone numbers to appear on caller IDs as if they are calling from a government agency or the court.”
How the scammers target Notaries
The scammers targeting Notaries employ all the above tactics and then go a step farther by researching the specific Notary they are targeting.
- They often know the Notary’s full name, address and sometimes their Notary commission number.
- They spoof the phone numbers of local police departments, so they appear on the victim’s caller ID; and they use the names of real police officers.
- They specifically tell the Notary victims that the cases involve them as witnesses regarding a notarization they performed, and that they failed to show at a court proceeding.
Once the scammers get the Notary on their cell phones, the victims are told they cannot hang up, or they will be arrested immediately. The victims also are told they cannot put their phones on speaker, tell anyone what is going on or bring anyone with them.
A Notary Signing Agent from Riverside County, California, who asked not to be identified, said she asked if she could tell her husband. The scammer said they would arrest him and take him to jail if she did.
The callers generally demand $5,000 to $6,000 as a “bond.” The scammer keeps the Notary on the phone while they drive to ATMs, banks and other locations trying to raise the cash and make the transfer.
The scammers tell victims to withdraw cash and transfer it to the government, purchasing a prepaid debit card such as a Green Dot card or gift card and read the card number over the phone to satisfy the fine, or by depositing cash into bitcoin ATMs.
Notaries’ harrowing accounts
The Riverside County NSA said the caller “kept me on the phone the whole way. I really felt like I was being kidnapped. My husband was going crazy.” She said the scammer called her on a Sunday night and made her go on a 2-hour trek to try to use all her debit and credit cards to get the cash. He finally told her to buy Visa gift cards and instructed her to mail them to the U.S. Treasury. He even provided a legitimate address. But the Notary also had to give the caller the card numbers as proof that she had purchased them.
It wasn’t until after she had given the numbers of $3,800 worth of gift cards that an attorney friend was able to reach her and tell her it was a scam.
Kristin Fink of Waynesville, Illinois, who got her Notary commission last October and became an NSA in February of this year, said she got a call on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend from someone claiming to be an officer from a nearby town. The caller said she had failed to appear as a witness regarding a document she notarized for a federal sexual misconduct case.
Fink acknowledged some red flags. Among other things, the caller said she had been issued a subpoena in January, but Fink did not start notarizing until February. Still, the fact that the caller ID showed the real number for the local police department, used the name of a real police officer and knew her Notary business address made her think everything was real.
While driving to the nearby town to comply with the caller’s instructions, the call got cut off.
She immediately dialed the number of the local police department to reconnect and discovered the scam.
“Even with me having a little bit of legal knowledge, they had me scared,” Fink said. “I sure didn’t want them to come and arrest me.”
Marilyn Reed, an NSA from Osceola, Indiana, said the scammers had her going for almost 2 hours. She went so far as to get a cash advance on her credit card. However, she realized it was a scam because the link the caller tried texting her to make the transfer did not come through.
“They kept calling back and threatening to come and get me and put me in jail,” Reed said. “It took me about 10 days before I could talk about it.”
Two accounts noted that the Notaries spoke to at least two individuals, and one of them had a heavy, Southern accent.
Where scammers find information about Notaries
Perhaps the most frightening and convincing aspect of this scam is the fact that the callers know so much information about their intended Notary victims.
“I have a Facebook page for business,” Fink said. “It has my address and phone number on it. Notaries also are listed on the Secretary of State’s website.”
“There is a lot of information out there about Notaries,” said the Riverside County Notary.
That is particularly true for Notary Signing Agents. Between profiles on NSA listing websites, personal websites, social media pages and state databases, it is relatively easy to mine extensive information about potential victims.
However, if you are a targeted by one of these scam calls, do not provide money or financial information to the caller. Please contact your local police department immediately.
You also can share your story with the NNA’s Facebook community.
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