NOTARIES, MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? WE MUST BE VERY OBEDIENT TO WHAT THE NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL STATUTES REQUIRE US TO DO AS NOTARIES. UNLESS WE HAVE A LICENSE THAT WAS EARNED THROUGH THE STATE BAR TO PRACTICE LAW or WE DO THIS FOR OURSELVES PERSONALLY, WE CANNOT GIVE ADVICE, DRAFT, PREPARE, COMPLETE, SELECT, AND OR UNDERSTAND A DOCUMENT OR TRANSACTION FOR ANYONE THAT REQUEST US TO DO SO WITHOUT THE RISK OF FACING PENALTIES OF BEING ON PROBATION, LOSING OUR COMMISSION, AND OR FACING CRIMINAL CHARGES AND POSSIBLY GOING TO PRISON!!
I RARELY BOLD ANYTHING, BUT THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT WE MUST BE MADE AWARE OF BECAUSE SOME OF OUR FELLOW NOTARIES ARE COMMITTING THESE TYPES OF ACTS... The following comment is one from someone that has made the complaint to the SOS with hopes to help put a stop to it once they identified it being an issue: “I work at a Register of Deeds within NC as well as being a commissioned notary. I record real estate documents, your usual deeds/deeds of trust/ agreements/ power of attorneys, etc. And just because I or any Register Of Deed records a document doesn’t mean it was done properly. Some of our documents, by law, require the name of the person or entity who prepared the document. Today, I received a Deed where the presenter (in this case also the grantee/buyer), stated the notary-prepared it and wrote everything in for them. This is one of many I have seen. Mind you, by law, I have to take the document at face value as long as it meets NC Recording Requirements. Also note, in the state of NC, only the grantor (seller) or attorneys are able to prepare Deeds. On this particular deed, just by looking at it the legal description - which the tax office uses to convey ownership - didn’t look like enough information for transferring… handwritten in similar writing as the notary. Legally, as a recorder, I can’t correct/bring this information up to the presenter because it’s considered practicing law …but I see enough documents requiring a legal description to know that this didn’t seem right. This person may (and in the past others also have) come back to our office and say “we” did something wrong. “We” didn’t record it right. The tax office “said they won’t transfer it”. I have said and will likely have to say “So sorry, but you have to either seek legal advice (which they probably didn’t want to pay for in the beginning) or go back to the person that prepared your document”. By preparing these documents you risk messing up someone’s title. Yes, Google is easy to use. But it isn’t always right. PLEASE!!! PLEAAAASEEE!!! DO NOT PREPARE THESE DOCUMENTS! <end of comment> Just imagine having a friend or family member pass away, only to find out that their documents that were entrusted with a notary were now rejected because it was not properly prepared by an attorney and the notary took the liberty to do what an attorney or your family member or friend should have only done, and now their wishes cannot be carried out. Do you see the tragedy this can bring to their loved ones?! This is just one of many other types of issues that can be created. The monetary exchange that was done with the notary, is not worth you being sued or arrested for when you consider the huge risks involved. Doing the right thing as a notary is what others are entrusting in us to do. So please follow the law of the land. You can refer to (North Carolina Notary Public Manual for the direct references on pages: 62-63, 71-72, 78, 82, and page 111) with so many areas covering this topic, it's VERY SERIOUS! For more relative topics that you'd like to have a discussion with other notaries of NC, you may join us at The Confident Notaries of North Carolina where we all believe in unity and building one another up with encouragement. #UnauthorizedPracticeOfLaw #KnowTheNotaryLaws #ncNotaryCoach See less Edit 1010
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Fraud begins with facts about you. It is easy and inexpensive to buy in an underground market.
Information is like the electricity that keeps the fraud business going. Scammers can't reach you or pretend to be you if they don't have your name, email address, Social Security number, password, credit card information, or other personal information. So, a huge illegal underground economy has grown up around the world to meet the needs of scammers. The goods? Law enforcement and cybersecurity experts at the company Digital Shadows say that more than 15 billion pieces of personal information have been stolen. That seems like a lot of information, but it's not. Digital Shadows says that the average person logs in to nearly 200 sites that need passwords or other information. There are a lot of personal details about you on your computer that a scammer might find useful. So, another illegal business is always going: stealing data. The Identity Theft Resource Center says that large organizations' customer databases were broken into a record 1,862 times last year. Most of that information is bought and sold on this dark web market. If this information marketplace were a mall, most of the people you'd find there would be hackers who steal information and sell it in bulk, malicious code writers who help hackers get into your computer by infecting it with malware, and vendors who buy the stolen information, repackage it, and sell it to "end users" who are actually trying to trick you. How much do scammers value your personally identifiable information (PII)? "It's really only worth about $2," says James E. Lee, chief operating officer of the non-profit Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego. Many people think that their nine-digit Social Security number is the most important way to identify them. A cybersecurity expert who runs the website KrebsOnSecurity.com says that a Social Security number with a name and date of birth costs $4 or $5, or about "the price of a caramel macchiato." Lee says that a person's credit card information is worth between $25 and $35 more. A hacked Facebook account can bring $65 and a selfie with a U.S. driver's license can bring $100. Who's going to pay for this information? Robert Villanueva, a former U.S. Secret Service supervisor who is now the executive vice president of Q6 Cyber in Hollywood, Florida, says that there are hundreds of thousands of serious "threat actors" all over the world. This personal information is sold in "shops" on the dark web and in "forums" that only the most skilled cybercriminals can access, says Villanueva. Malware, or bad software, is a key part of their crimes. If a computer is infected with something called a "keylogger," the bad guys can see every letter a person types. This lets them steal banking and email passwords and take over the accounts. The same goes for your phone. "Threat actors are really going after people's phone numbers to take over their digital lives, because that's the weakest link," Krebs says. ~credits by Katherine Skiba ACKNOWLEDGMENT CERTIFICATE:Although there are statutory acknowledgment certificates for North Carolina notaries’ use, certificates from other jurisdictions may be used as long as they include the following components:
When executing an acknowledgment, the signer is acknowledging to the notary that the signature is the principal’s and that the principal signed the document willingly. Signing the document in the presence of the notary will accomplish this act since the notary actually witnesses the signer sign. However, if the document is presented with a signature already affixed, the notary must ask the signer if he or she willingly signed the document and the signer must respond in the affirmative. IT IS PERFECTLY FINE FOR DOCUMENTS REQUIRING AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO HAVE BEEN SIGNED PRIOR TO BEING PRESENTED TO THE NOTARY. The notary will simply need to make sure that the signer acknowledges his or her signature. IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR DOCUMENTS IN THIS SITUATION TO BE SIGNED AGAIN IN THE NOTARY’S PRESENCE. Learn more by joining us notaries of NC in our Thursday night live webinars all this month of December. Click the following link: https://bit.ly/3rtWTF7 If you are a notary public in this great state of North Carolina, we welcome you to our Facebook Group Community: "The Confident Notaries of North Carolina" |
NC Notary CoachI am Belinda B. Bennett, a commissioned Notary Public above all else in the state of NC. I decided to become a mentor to help other notaries that are commissioned in North Carolina with frequently asked notary questions. I am also a Coach and help notaries and other industries create profitable businesses with using their commissions and or licenses nationwide. ArchivesCategories |