Notary News

The #PhillyFiasco has put the city in disarray, as three suspects have fled the United States, along with their profits.

To catch you up if you are out of the loop, at least 21 elderly and deceased home owners had their houses stolen from underneath them, in a brazen scheme targeting homes in neighborhoods that have seen the highest increase of values for homes.

Our previous article on the Philly Fiasco.

Update: The Philly Fiasco Follow Up – First Step to Stop Fraud

Forging Ahead

The Philly Fiasco started when fraudsters started forging and filing phony deeds transferring ownership of properties to themselves. They then tried to flip the property quickly before the family members of the victim found out.

Beyond that, investigators are looking at another set of sales, where the deeds were transferred between several names in quick succession.

It is thought that this ploy was used to both cover up the original crime, as well as fool title and mortgage companies.

As of this time, investigators have uncovered 21 homes stolen, and are looking into more transactions.

Notaries Not All in the Clear

The Philly prosecutors office has essentially stated that no charges are expected to be levied against notaries in the state of Pennsylvania.

In all but one of the transactions, the prosecutor’s office has said fake signatures and stamps were used to enable the transactions.

As a check on fraud, signatures on deeds must be verified by notaries. But prosecutors said that the notary signature and stamps were also forged.

Philly.com

But, prosecutors are looking at a notary for possible crimes. The kicker is they work at a US Embassy in Israel, and the signing may have been done after the accused fled the country.

This particular signing is said to have been an online signing. Even this late in the game, the fraudster knew how to perfectly use the system against victims.

They used the opportunity to exploit security weaknesses inherent in remote signings, avoiding having to ever have a proper photograph taken, as well as avoiding background checks.

So What Tropical Beach Are they Kicking Back at Now?

Investigators have not uncovered where the three foreign nationals have fled.

The accused are one Israeli and two Lithuanians who have stayed one step ahead of the system since April 2017.

For the prosecutors who filed the arrest warrants, they said they hope this prevents the suspects from ever returning to the country, and allow them to be arrested if they do.

In all, the alleged face over 200 criminal charges.

A fourth potential suspect is based in Germany. Investigators said this person may have transferred money between the three accused suspects.

Raising Questions

The #PhillyFiasco is painfully unfolding, fortunately exonerating any notaries stateside.

But, it raises some important questions that need to be answered.

From gaping holes in the system, to inherent security risks, to signings that occur overseas, it is something that needs to be addressed in a meaningful way.

• Facebook Page
• LinkedIn Page
• Sunshine's Twitter, or X Page

Your Nationwide Notary Signing Service

Increase your efficiency and bottom line with Sunshine’s Mobile Notary Services and Online Notary Services. Sunshine is always there when you need us.

GET STARTED

Or Call us at (727) 817-0000

For those of us in the business during the big crash surely remember the robo-signing fiasco and the wider effect on the industry.

It’s a topic that has not been on the national radar for quite a few years.

So, we asked ourselves if it was still a thing that happens, and unfortunately it is.

What is Robo-Signing?

For the uninitiated among us, robo-signing is a fraudulent practice that was front and center nationally during the financial crisis last decade.

A single person would fake signatures and notarizations for hundreds or thousands of documents, trying to bring legitimacy to court cases stemming from the crisis.

Some of these would be back dated, or notarized “in the past”. Others were done for current dates. The problem being, none of these signings ever occurred (or could not be proven to occurred without the fraudulent documents).

These documents were then presented to the courts, as the large entities tried to, and mostly succeeded, to get over on smaller investors or home owners. Beyond this, differing state laws only intensified the mess.

Some states even viewed robo-signing as legal.

It was a terrible mess that many would call a scourge on the industry, even though it affected only a tiny minority of notaries.

Robo-Signing is Still a Thing

A law firm in Texas now faces charges that it robo-signed documents.

The kicker?

This law firm worked for the government and dealt with collecting taxes. And it is alleged they robo-signed hundreds of documents to try and collect taxes that were not owed.

This was millions of dollars in taxes.

You want another kicker?

Though this case only involves one city, this law firm works for dozens of cities performing the same tasks. So, what is a small and local story right now, may soon be a national nightmare.

Anything Else We Should Know?

Yes, robo-signing is bad. Real bad. But, we are sure you already know that.

Unfortunately, at the moment, this is a recent and quickly moving scandal. Right now the robo-signing portion of the scandal is mixed in with a bunch of other things that are alleged in the complaint.

But, we will keep our eyes on the case, and will let you know when more is known.

And hopefully, we can finally put robo-signing to bed once and for all (yeah, we feel like optimists today).

• Facebook Page
• LinkedIn Page
• Sunshine's Twitter, or X Page

Your Nationwide Notary Signing Service

Increase your efficiency and bottom line with Sunshine’s Mobile Notary Services and Online Notary Services. Sunshine is always there when you need us.

GET STARTED

Or Call us at (727) 817-0000

A controversial bill involving potential notaries with felony convictions has been vetoed by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam.

The legislation was passed overwhelmingly in the Virginia General Assembly, including a unanimous vote in the state Senate.

What Would/Does the Bill Do?

The bill would bar people convicted of certain felonies from becoming notary publics in the state of Virginia.

The charges include, but are not limited to, fraud, robbery and bribery.

Northam announced the veto Friday, saying the legislation was “antithetical to the concept of restorative justice.”

Washington Post

Governor Under Fire

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is embroiled in a scandal at the present moment.

That does not affect us, so there is no reason to go into detail. Just duckduckgo it if you are interested in details.

What is important is the strained relationship between the Governor and members of the Virginia Assembly. The Governor has vetoed multiple bills this session.

So, the Bill is Dead?

In short, no.

The Virginia General Assembly can still vote to override the Governor’s veto. The bill passed both houses with a huge majority, so they have the votes to override the Governor if they choose to do so.

They plan to meet next month to debate, and possibly vote on, overriding Governor Northam on several bills.

Overriding a veto is not as easy as it sounds, even with the original votes. Many in Northam’s party may have voted yes, but could vote no on the veto.

Why, you ask?

Overriding vetoes is seen to make the Governor, and by extension his political party, appear weak. That makes overriding the veto a more risky political move than it did on the original vote.

Image provided by Craig from Richmond, Virginia`, United States – Governor Ralph Northam Gives Inaugural Address, CC BY 2.0, Link

• Facebook Page
• LinkedIn Page
• Sunshine's Twitter, or X Page

Your Nationwide Notary Signing Service

Increase your efficiency and bottom line with Sunshine’s Mobile Notary Services and Online Notary Services. Sunshine is always there when you need us.

GET STARTED

Or Call us at (727) 817-0000

Have you been looking to become a notary in Ohio?

If so, you might want to expedite the process, as notary fees are set to skyrocket this September.

State Set to Take Over

As we reported last year, Ohio notaries are are moving from being commissioned by the county they do business in. It is now moving to the Secretary of State’s office.

Sunshine tried to get more detailed information last year, but a lot of the new rules had not been written at the time, so while the state was helpful and responsive, they just did not have enough information at the time.

A lot of what will go into effect is said to cover the Secretary of State’s office’s expenses.

But, we wonder if the counties’ were taking a loss on notary certification, or if they are just more efficient than the state. Or, maybe the old fees are antiquated and had to be adjusted to meet current demands.

Anything But the Fees

The fee to become a notary is currently $15.

All that and more is going to change on September 20th.

Rate hikes, continued education and background checks run by the state are all on the horizon.

The registration fee will go from $15 to $150. While the renewal moves to $60. On top of that, a new background check will cost the notary an additional $22.

It is yet to be seen how this will affect the mobile notary.

Will the Ohio background check be accepted and replace current background checks? Or will the mobile notary have to get the state background check in addition to any they get now?

Renew Now if You Can!

If you renew before the new law takes effect, you will be grandfathered in.

You will fall under the current rules and regulations for five years.

Starkey (County court services coordinator Kelly Starkey) said those who renew their notary commission before the September deadline will be grandfathered in for five years and continue under existing law. She said once that five-year commission expires, however, they must follow the new laws.

Lancaster Eagle Gazette

What About Continuing Education?

If you remember our piece on Ohio Notaries from last year, our biggest concern was about educating notaries. And behind the scenes, we were trying to help the state with this process.

Unfortunately, the state still does not have rules regarding continuing education. We had hoped the state would be more pro-active in this area, but we are going to have to cross our fingers that they will finalize this soon.

We’re not sure if they see how important education is for notaries. And we are not just talking about continued education. There are several areas of education that we find important, and we talked about them in our article linked above.

If Ohio notaries are going to be responsible for new duties, they need those duties conveyed to them in a reasonable manner.

Any Other Good News?

Don’t we wish.

Like most of our business expenses, this is just going to have to be part of the cost of doing business. And at the end of the day, if you have a decent amount of volume for your notary business, the change in cost will probably pale in comparison to other business expenses.

The question would then be the time commitment needed to get current on the new rules and regulations.

If you are a current notary, renew now if you can. The same holds true to those looking to become a notary. Get yourself grandfathered in for the next five years. Let the new system play out before you have to become a part of it.

Attorneys should also look into becoming a notary before the new rules take effect.

• Facebook Page
• LinkedIn Page
• Sunshine's Twitter, or X Page

Your Nationwide Notary Signing Service

Increase your efficiency and bottom line with Sunshine’s Mobile Notary Services and Online Notary Services. Sunshine is always there when you need us.

GET STARTED

Or Call us at (727) 817-0000

Update: See our latest article on the Philly Fiasco.

Update: The Philly Fiasco Follow Up – First Step to Stop Fraud

When I first saw this a couple of weeks ago, I could not believe the allegations in Philly. If true, it is shameful. Signing dead people’s homes over to others, and at huge profits.

It is literally the Shasta Signing on steroids.

How to Steal a House

Forge a bunch of documents.

And when people don’t find out until years later, sit back and enjoy the chaos.

The story starts with fake death certificates, deeds and fake wills, among other documents. Some of these documents are notarized. (more on that in a bit)

Then take advantage of the state of Pennsylvania’s security on records and make everything official. After that, sell the home for a giant payday, all at the expense of the real property owners.

There is a lot of mud being thrown around, about the specifics and other issues, and we are going to avoid those for now. But, if proven in court, this isn’t just shameful, it is heinous.

What About the Notary(ies)?

We always give the notary the benefit of the doubt. And they absolutely deserve it in this case.

Forged Deeds. Forged Wills. Forged Notary Stamps and Forged Signatures.

In recent days police seem to be leaning towards forged notary signatures, but came short of mentioning the stamp as well. This is probably because the police are not notaries and do not realize the importance the provenance of the stamp means to notaries.

but it is significant that the notaries’ signatures appear forged as well. The notary is the one person whom the government believes can authenticate an individual’s signature.

The Philly Inquirer

The article above explains in painful detail the many problems facing Philadelphia in addressing this crisis, including further regulations regarding notaries.

What if the Stamp was Legitimate?

In itself, it probably does not matter.

Does it matter if it is forged? Does it matter if it was stolen/borrowed, and a copy made? Does it really matter if there is some guy who runs a shop, with a back room, who sells forged stamps (just like the movies)?

The only way it would matter is if the notary is engaged in the act (conspiracy). There is no evidence this is what happened. We have been paying close attention to this story for a several weeks now so we can provide an informed opinion.

And that means taking the right amount of time to let key facts and any allegations come to light. And not rushing to judgment on people who now seem to be less related to the incident than was thought several weeks ago.

And, yes, there was a notary being thrown in the mud a few weeks ago, though we will not provide any links.

Where do We Go From Here?

How does this affect the notary, and the legality behind their signature?

The piece above offers a couple of problems in search of solutions, but at this moment, there is one thing a notary does that stands out.

Keep a clean log book.

And hope that future answers to today’s questions, are done in a smart and efficient manner that is fair to notaries.

• Facebook Page
• LinkedIn Page
• Sunshine's Twitter, or X Page

Your Nationwide Notary Signing Service

Increase your efficiency and bottom line with Sunshine’s Mobile Notary Services and Online Notary Services. Sunshine is always there when you need us.

GET STARTED

Or Call us at (727) 817-0000

Alright, let’s take a guess. If you had to join a pool to guess the world’s oldest notary’s age, what would you select?

Would you take the safe route and go for normal retirement age? Maybe a little older? Betty White old?

And note, we are not talking about the world’s oldest notaries, but the age of a single one.

Older Than That

It’s almost beyond belief. Most of us can’t even imagine working until we are 100 years old. But, the world’s oldest notary is now 102 years old. And from reports, she is still more spry than most of us.

Born in Paincourtville, Louisiana in 1916, Lumina Newchurch first got her notary commission in 1967, at the age of 51.

Who would have guessed, she would be a notary for the next 51 years.

Still Actively Working

Miss Newchurch still maintains a home office, even though she now lives in a retirement community.

Sitting on the desk?

A typewriter.

Lumina works on a computer now as well, and has no problem printing documents. Even at the age of 102, she still adapts to the current market and adapting the clients she goes after, both in selecting the proper target market, and doing the amount of work she wants to do.

She Didn’t Become the World’s Oldest Notary By Being Dumb

We talk quite a bit about marketing yourself and identifying the customers that would best suit your business.

How does Miss Newchurch do it?

She targets people from her local community and neighborhood. People who are very close to her. Which makes signings easier for everyone involved.

She notarizes various documents needed by those in her local community.

What Can We Learn From the World’s Oldest Notary?

Do what you love?

Even if that means following a dream from the time Nat King Cole ruled the record industry, all the way through a time when we can operate rovers on Mars.

How About Marketing Our Business?

Lumina adapts. Beyond weeks or years. Beyond decades. Beyond generations and eras. She obviously is still quite adept at this, as she is still notarizing documents long past the time most of us last on this earth.

As far as we can tell, she is not doing signings for title companies. She is working with individual clients, and has diversified her business to handle her target client’s needs.

Remember, diversity of income is stability of income.

And Lumina Newchurch can most likely still teach us all a lesson or two on how to market and adapt your business for the long term.

I Want to Know More About Lumina Newchurch

Don’t we all.

Fortunately, the Donaldsonville Chief recently did a fabulous expose on her life. It tells the story of a fascinating woman, who just so happens to be the world’s oldest notary.

• Facebook Page
• LinkedIn Page
• Sunshine's Twitter, or X Page

Your Nationwide Notary Signing Service

Increase your efficiency and bottom line with Sunshine’s Mobile Notary Services and Online Notary Services. Sunshine is always there when you need us.

GET STARTED

Or Call us at (727) 817-0000

Once again, there is conflict involving politics and notaries.  But, let’s not worry about the specifics of it all this time and ask a more poignant question.

Should notaries play a role in our election process?

We Don’t All Go to the Polls

To make it clear, we are not speaking about people who attend the polls to vote.  Instead, we are talking about absentee and mail in ballots.

In most cases, these votes are cast and counted as is, without any special requirement to prove the person who filled out the ballot is the one whose name is on the ballot.  And as any one of us who’ve been notarizing important documents for a while have learned, while proper notarization does not make a document bullet proof, it lends significant, legal credence to it.

Some states or localities have laws that require notarization of these types of ballots.  In our recent midterms, one locality let a select few of it’s residents vote by email or fax, if the ballot was notarized.

So, What’s the Problem?

I don’t think we need to tell you the types of things that are alleged to occur in our elections.  But, we do need to take into account these things, if we are to properly address the questions.

So we are going to provide you with three different circumstances where either a notary, or lack of a notary, has become a question.  We are not going to name states, parties, races. We are simply going to give you the facts as we know them.

Break Glass In Case of Emergency?

So, there was an area in the United States that experienced a massive natural disaster just a couple of weeks before the election.  People homes were destroyed, lives turned upside down, sentimental possessions lost forever.

In other words, there was nothing to return to, at least yet.  And some who fled could not return due to medical or other significant reasons.

So, flouting the word of the election law, but acting in its spirit (benefit of the doubt), the local elections supervisor let a little more than 100 residents vote remotely, by email or fax, with notarization.

This caused a kerfluffle, of course, that those ballots be rejected.  That they didn’t follow official election protocol.  The opposing viewpoint, that since these residents faced the worst and could not reasonably return in time, is that not allowing them to vote would be disenfranchising them.

And an important question arose from the situation.  How should we handle voting for those affected by natural disaster, who cannot reasonably return to their homes?  And should the notary play a role, to ensure the process is fair?

Mail-In Ballots – Notarization Required

So while most states do not require mail in ballots to be notarized, not all of them follow that protocol.

And that has led to accusations that some voters are disenfranchised because it is too hard to find a notary, or they may not be able to afford a notary.

While we would disagree that it is hard to find a notary, since that is our job and we are good at it, that does not mean we should dismiss peoples’ concerns outright.  In this case, education on finding a notary might be a good way to alleviate concerns.

Or, maybe an enterprising notary or two will find a way to target these voters, provide services to them at reduced cost, and reap the rewards of all of the positive PR.  It’s a very valid, loss leader strategy, if a notary is positioned to serve this clientele.  Sending out press releases to all of the local writers for your area newspapers and tv reporters, would most assuredly give that notary positive coverage in the press.

There are a lot of other issues concerning the process in this state, but we will stay out of those, because they do not address the question at hand.

Should notaries help ensure the integrity of our election process by notarizing ballots that are mailed in?

So now we’ll look at the flip side of this.

Mail-In Ballots – Notarization Not Required

In another state, a group of people were arrested last week for allegedly paying off homeless people to fill out fraudulent election documents.

While we are not sure why they were doing it, they are accused of bribing the homeless with money or cigarettes, over the course of several years.  The total amount of ballots affected by this group is unknown to us.

This group is alleged to have preyed on some of our most vulnerable citizens.

Would requiring a notary prevent these kind of abuses?  Is there a way, that we as notaries, can both protect the most vulnerable among us, while also ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard when we vote?

The Verdict

We are not here to give you an answer to anything.  We just want to raise valid points, so we may intelligently understand things.  That way, if questions are raised in our communities, we are ready to offer solutions.

But, it is impossible to dispute.  Notaries provide integrity.  They provide a verifiable paper trail to prove the legitimacy of documents and the people that sign them.

Are notaries the answer?  It is not for us to say.

Maybe the better question is “Could Notaries be the Answer?”.

• Facebook Page
• LinkedIn Page
• Sunshine's Twitter, or X Page

Your Nationwide Notary Signing Service

Increase your efficiency and bottom line with Sunshine’s Mobile Notary Services and Online Notary Services. Sunshine is always there when you need us.

GET STARTED

Or Call us at (727) 817-0000