Florida Notary Public Updates

Because of their work, public servants—including notaries public—have some of their personal information “out there” and available in ways that most average citizens do not.

In today’s climate of rampant identity theft and false representation of authority, notaries public must be especially alert to any sign that they may have been targeted. 

Consider this:  as a necessary and important public information service, the majority of states in the U.S. publish (typically on the web) identifying information about certain state officials, appointees, and other office holders including commissioned notaries public. 

For notaries, the typical information made publicly available includes their name, contact information, and date of commission or commission expiration.  Other information that’s publicly available (depending on the notary’s state) includes the notary’s commission number and other specifics such as their commission expiration date.

Once all the necessary information is found, the person wanting to criminally impersonate a notary simply finds a stamp-making resource that doesn’t realize how sensitive official notary stamps are.  Those places can lack certain guardrails, such as always receiving or accessing genuine proof of commission.  They will simply produce a stamp in exactly the format they’ve been shown and with the information the notary imposter has assembled from publicly accessible resources.

Make no mistake:  publishing official notary public commission records is an important and necessary public service that helps the public verify a legitimate notary.  But impersonation by a fraudster is a risk—what actions can each notary public take to avoid being a victim?  Here are our top five tips:

1 – ALWAYS personally store your official commission certificate in a way or place that only you can access.

2 – Likewise, ALWAYS personally store your official notary stamp or seal in a way or place that only you can access.

3 –NEVER let another person convince you that they should have access to your official commission certificate or official notary stamp/seal.  This can be a challenge for employee notaries, whose employers may have paid for the cost of the commission and supplies and therefore believe they—not the notary—should control them.  Explain to your employer that state law, rules or best practices require the notary to maintain sole and exclusive control of their official commission certificate, stamp, embossing seal and record book (journal) of notarial acts.

4 – NEVER proudly post images of your notary stamp and/or commission certificate online… you’d be making a fraudster’s job far too easy.

5 – Regularly browse informative websites like troyfaininsurance.com and https://www.flgov.com/eog/info/notary for the latest notary news, tips and updates on issues like protecting yourself and your commission from imposters, performing expert notarizations, and more.