Secure Your Notary Tools
Keep Your Notary Tools Safe and SecurePublished May 16, 2025
Notaries, lately some of you have been wrapped up in legal disputes that had nothing to do with you or a notarization you performed.
All it took was for “your” notary stamp or seal impression, and a signature assumed to be yours, to appear in the notarial certificate on a document under dispute or worse, that enabled a crime. You have faced days, weeks and even months of stress and distraction, trying to prove to law enforcement, the victims, and their attorneys, that you had nothing to do with the crime.
In fact, faked notarizations are so common right now that artificial intelligence (AI) can instantly produce informed commentary, concluding that “while not every fraud case includes a fake notarization, it is a prevalent element in many fraudulent activities.”
Your awareness of the most common schemes involving a legitimate notary’s commission information can help you avoid becoming a victim.
• Many faked notarizations involve someone taking advantage of access to a legitimate notary’s commission information, then having a counterfeit stamp or seal made. This information is readily available through important public records… either in public records involving notarized documents (for example, property records), or the public records of the government officials who commission notaries.
• Even worse, there are bad actors who take advantage of a trusting notary. One example is when a coworker swipes a notary stamp left unsecured on the notary’s desk, has a bogus stamp produced from it, and sneaks the original stamp back onto the notary’s desk.
• Artificial intelligence also contributes to the problem. A simple of search for “examples of notarized documents” produces visual results that include the completed notarial certificate and signature/seal of the officiating notary. It’s plenty of information for a fraudster to take to a local stamp maker* for reproduction.Only public officials can debate and decide which information should (or should not be) publicly available. But you can tighten your practices over what you can control, which is the secure storage of your notary tools: your official stamp and/or seal; your commission certificate or card (if provided by your state); and your recordbook (journal) of official acts.
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*Notaries, use only stamp makers with expertise in the requirements for, and manufacture of, official notary stamps and seals. ASN is continually up-to-date on the stamp and seal requirements for every U.S. state, requires credible evidence of a legitimate notary’s active commission, and performs multiple quality checks to verify your stamp or seal’s accuracy and impression quality.
It’s really simple. Never leave any of these items out of your sight unless they are secured and only you can access them. A locking desk drawer, a combination lock on a briefcase or bag, a securely stored password to an electronic journal… all of these are examples of simple but effective security measures you should be taking to protect your notary tools and records.
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