THE NEED FOR CREDENTIALED NOTARIES
The documents that formalize or memorialize the most important events of our lives - purchasing a home, finalizing a legal matter, or assuring that end of life wishes are honored - will require the services of a notary public. These transactions are too important to place in the hands of “just a notary.” A notary who doesn’t understand the seriousness and complexity of the obligations inherent in the notarial act and fails to adhere to the law and best practices of the profession, may jeopardize your home, your financial well-being, or the plans you have carefully made for you and your family’s future.
To protect your property, your finances, and your family, you can’t rely on just any notary - you deserve a notary who has the knowledge, experience, and consistently maintains the high standards that you expect from every other professional you entrust with your most important transactions.
5.7 Million Cases of Fraud and Identity Theft Were Reported to the FTC in 2024.
Reports of property or deed fraud - also known as home title fraud - increased over 22% from 2019 - 2022, and the trend continues upward.
Home title fraud can have devastating financial consequences for homeowners. The average financial loss due to home title fraud is estimated to be around $80,000 per incident, according to industry reports. These losses often include legal fees, court costs, mortgage payments on fraudulent loans, and the loss of equity in the property.
Over 20,000 cases of home title theft are reported annually in the United States. Almost all of these transactions involve a notarized document.
The FBI reports that 88,262 people over the age of 60 were victims of financial fraud schemes in 2022.
There are currently over 4.4 million commissioned notaries in the United States
There are over 1.5 billion documents are notarized in the U.S. every year.
A notary public can be the difference between a successful transaction and a disaster.
ANYONE CAN BE A VICTIM
IDENTITY THEFT - The primary purpose of a notary public is to properly identify the person who appears to the notary, yet the number of identity theft cases involving a notary public is rising due to the sophistication of fake IDs and Artificial Intelligence that make it more challenging for the average notary to confidently identify the principal. Most notaries receive little or no education about how to spot this kind of fraud.
AGNP Notaries receive IN-DEPTH TRAINING on RECOGNIZING and PREVENTING identity theft.
PROPERTY or DEED FRAUD - The schemes to steal property have proliferated in recent years. What used to be a fairly rare occurance is now one of the fastest growing white-collar crimes in the country. Simple transactions using a Quit Claim Deed with a forged signature as well as elaborate, complex international impersonation schemes are costing billions of dollars in losses every year. Documents notarized by a well-meaning, but inexperienced or inadequately educated notary public may jeopardize the validity of the underlying document, or more disturbingly, facilitate an illegal transaction.
AGNP Notaries are AWARE OF and PROTECT their customers from property and deed fraud.
ELDER FINANCIAL ABUSE - In addition to identifying the principal, a notary’s fundamental responsibility is to determine that the person is “knowingly and willingly signing the document for the purposes intended.” Most fraudulent property transfers and end of life documents focus on the capacity and competency of the principal because many notaries are unaware of this requirement. That makes it easier for fraudsters to successfully steal billions of dollars from our vulnerable senior citizens every year.
AGNP Notaries KNOW HOW TO carefully and properly DETERMINE capacity and competence.
NOTARY FRAUD IS REAL - There are three main types of notary malpractice:
When the notary fails to perform a notarization properly,
When the notary is complicit in a fraudulent scheme,
When the notary is being impersonated and is also a victim of the fraud.