Identification

The notarial duty of certifying/attesting a copy requires attention to certain details that may not occur to some notaries. For example, do you routinely ask the document custodian requesting the copy for satisfactory identification if he or she is not personally known? American Society of Notaries recommends that you do. For one, your state’s notarial certificate language for this duty may very well include a blank for the name of the document custodian. Don’t just take the document custodian’s word for it—ask for satisfactory identification. The same applies to your recordbook entries for certified/attested copies, which typically capture the document custodian’s information (name, address, signature). Your recordbook entries are your only evidence of the notarial acts you perform; protect the credibility of this evidence by satisfactorily identifying document custodians requesting certified/attested copies.

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Every once in a while, a notary may get the uncomfortable feeling that a driver’s license presented for identification purposes is a fake. While you are NOT expected or trained to detect expertly forged identification documents, it’s still smart to be aware of how easy it is to obtain a fake ID, and how to recognize the most obvious signs of ID forgery.

The federal legislation known as the REAL ID Act of May, 2005, held the promise of reducing the number of counterfeit driver’s licenses in circulation by adding features that make the driver’s license much more difficult and costly to falsify. Some of these features include a retro-reflective laminate with an optically variable device in it that may make a line or other figure look like it is floating above or below the surface of the license. There may be a kinegram on the license—a picture that, when the card is tilted, turns into words or another picture. The license may contain a two dimensional barcode that can hold much more information than a standard barcode. It requires a special “2–D” barcode reader. The license can have a digital “watermark” that is invisible to the naked eye but reveals information to an electronic scanner.

In crafting updated driver’s licenses, each state may pick from among the available security features and decide which ones they want to use. Licenses displaying these features will certainly be accepted with greater confidence… after all, they are nearly impossible to counterfeit, right?

In fact, a growing number of the websites that offer a “novelty” driver’s license in the earlier, laminated style (cost: around $100) have expanded their capabilities to produce fakes of the newer, Real ID Act-compliant licenses. Some are so well-crafted that only an expert could detect the fraudulent ID.

So, should notaries be overly worried about fake driver’s licenses? “Worried,” no—but alert and aware, most definitely. While the greatest demand for fake driver’s licenses still seems to come from young people whose primary interest is underage drinking (not committing document fraud with a false ID), they are creating the market demand that makes counterfeit licenses readily available to everyone else.

So, don’t assume that all newer driver’s licenses with their high-tech security features are the real deal—a few might be counterfeit. Remember, while you are not expected to detect an expertly forged driver’s license, you should ask for an additional form of identification if there are ANY red flags that make you think a driver’s license might be a fake. We also offer these tips for carefully examining a driver’s license:

• Don’t permit the client to distract you while you are looking at his driver’s license. In fact, examine the license more carefully if it appears that the client is trying to draw your attention away from looking closely at his driver’s license.
• Hold the driver’s license so you can feel if the surface is not even or if there are ragged edges indicating that the license may have been physically altered. A new picture may have been pasted over the original picture on the card with another layer of lamination added which would leave a raised surface around the area of the picture and also make the card feel thicker than normal.
• Examine the back of the card. Often, “novelty” (fake) driver’s licenses will display wording such as “DEMO” or “Unofficial.” Also, some state licenses feature the driver’s license number on the front and back of the card, so these numbers should match.
• Use a bright light to examine the license in case there is visible evidence that the card has been reworked.
• Compare the picture on the license with the person standing in front of you. Be aware that some states will send the license holder a sticker to advance the expiration date of the card without a new card being issued with a new picture. This may cause the person to no longer resemble the picture on the license. Look at the original issue date of the license to see if the picture could be a younger version of the client if the license was originally issued at a date earlier than usual.
• Look at the date of birth on the license to see if the person appears to be about that age.
• If the driver’s license contains elements of a physical description, compare them to the person who presented the license.
• Someone wanting to present a counterfeit driver’s license to a notary may want to show the notary a license from another state in hopes that he or she will not be familiar with the looks of that license. Having a book that shows pictures of all driver’s licenses in circulation for each state is a valuable tool when identifying clients.

If you have a doubt about the genuineness of the license, ask the person questions based on information from the license or ask for another form of ID.
 
Questions, comments on this Hot Tip?  Email support@asnnotary.org

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