Posted by Beth/MD on 2/21/06 7:06am
Msg #98519

Here's my "opinions please."

I received an email last night from someone who claims he got my information off a notary site I'm not recalling registering with. He gave his notary need and name and wanted me to email him to set up a lunch break appointment for today. Okay. I did so and now I'm just not sure about it. Matter of fact, the more I think about it, the more it bothers me. The meeting is at a local strip mall. I know that's a public place. I don't have a contact phone number just a name and a yahoo email address. Am I just being skiddish?

Reply by Beth/MD on 2/21/06 7:07am
Msg #98520

Re: Here's my "opinions please." Should also mention

Hubby thinks I should not go.

Reply by Anonymous on 2/21/06 7:09am
Msg #98523

Re: Here's my "opinions please." Should also mention

HUMMMMMM, I'd go with his gut instinct.

Reply by Anonymous on 2/21/06 7:08am
Msg #98521

Seems harmless enough in the public setting but do be cautious.

Reply by Beth/MD on 2/21/06 7:21am
Msg #98524

I agree it seems harmless since it's in a public place. But on the other hand...
Actually, I didn't think anything of it until David planted the seed of doubt.

Reply by ColleenCA on 2/21/06 8:10am
Msg #98550

I always follow my "gut instinct". I would cancel it.

Reply by Kydocrunner on 2/21/06 8:13am
Msg #98551

Beth,
Being that it is in a public place, could you perhaps ask your hubby if he would go along and act like he is another customer. The person that emailed you wouldnt know he was being watched and you would have the protection you need. This new client may be a gold mine for you but you wont know if you dont go. That is the way I would handle it anyway. Always be cautious and have a backup plan. You cant be too careful. Best of Luck! Go Get em!!!

Reply by Charm_AL on 2/21/06 8:22am
Msg #98558

I've gotten those calls before and it doesn't bother me if they are in public. But as others have stated, go with the gut
I've had several people find me at the 'sites' and e-mail for regular notarizations though.

Reply by srnotary_CA on 2/21/06 8:49am
Msg #98568

I agree with takin gyour hubby along and if he is not available maybe a friend. That way you have someone with you to give you "backup" if needed. I have noticed that some of the calls I get are from sites I don't remember signing up with. But that is becasue before I got smart (from reading this board ) I didn't write down the companies I first signed up with.

IF you are really that uncomfortable about it then cancel it but as stated above it could be a gold mine of work for you.

Reply by Beth/MD on 2/21/06 9:06am
Msg #98570

As I said before, I really had no problem until Hubby planted a seed of doubt. I'm keeping the appointment and my dad is going to sip coffee a couple of tables away. So, no problem. It's just a straight notarization of a couple of pages.

Reply by cyndi_ca on 2/21/06 9:06am
Msg #98571

It always better to be safe than sorry. However, when there have been times like this for me, it has always turned out fine. I just put on my extra cautious hat and arrive early to scope things out. If I didn't ok about it, I would leave.

Reply by janCA on 2/21/06 9:13am
Msg #98573

Keep the trigger finger on the pepper spray.

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 2/21/06 9:31am
Msg #98576

Since you have this mans email address, maybe you can email him and ask for his number so you can have it handy. It's strange he didn't give you his number?!?! You can say incase you are running a few minutes behind, you will give him a call.

Glad your dad will be there to sip coffee nearby. Keep us posted.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 2/21/06 9:31am
Msg #98578

I know its different for a male notary than it is for a female notary because the potential for trouble from the client. And It seems that Beth has the situation handled by having someone observe un-noticed. In my mind I would prefer to have someone observe unnoticed because it won't cause any discomfort to the client and if a situation should arise there would be an additional element of surprise by having another person becoming involved. You have to remember that criminals don't want any trouble and they usually seek out targets they believe are easy. A target that is going to fight back, especially in a crowded place is going to make it much more difficult for a perpetrator to perpetrate.

On other thought however is that there are other notary sites and many people believe that it is easy money fleecing notaries. There are sites out there, some of which have done their research on this site, who have harvested a great deal of information including our profiles.

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 2/21/06 9:38am
Msg #98582

It's a catch 22

I agree with Charles. We want our info. out there to get potential business, make it easy for TC's, SS's, etc to contact us. Yet the info. we provide can easily be used against us. Wish people would get a life and work hard in a 'real' job instead of taking from others.

I have tried tolocate and change all places where I placed my address, but from time to time I see it still pop up. I should have thought through that one better. It's easy to replace an email address, a home address is a different story. I also choose not to post pictures of me and my business partner.

Reply by Calnotary on 2/21/06 10:01am
Msg #98589

Re: It's a catch 22

email him back and ask for his phone number. Tell him that probably your husband will show
up since he is a notary too. See how he reacts to that.

Reply by Charles_Ca on 2/21/06 10:05am
Msg #98594

While its fun to think of in-your-face situations would

you really do that if you were seriously in business?

Reply by Stamper_WI on 2/21/06 10:10am
Msg #98598

Re: While its fun to think of in-your-face situations would

No..the client does not necessarily have to know the precautions you take.

Reply by Stamper_WI on 2/21/06 10:09am
Msg #98596

Re: It's a catch 22

When I was a Realtor I had a vacant house on a dead end street listed. I got a call from a guy claiming to be a PI who wanted to meet me and talk about the house. I met him at my favorite coffee shop. I arrived early and talked to both the waitress and that big burly cook in the back and had them both watching us. We also had a "trouble" signal. My Broker was also aware of what was going on.

The man I met wanted permission to sit in the vacant house to observe the guy across the street on an insurance fraud investigation. Before I called the owner for permission, I called the local sherrif to check the guy out and he was legit and in fact was a former deputy.

What was funny was the guy he was watching called me and said there was a car going in and out of the garage! I told him it was someone staying there temporarily!
That guy lost his insurance claim for back injury as he chose that time period to haul and stack wood.

Later, when I knew the PI better , I told him about the precautions I took and he said I did it exactly right. Now I have a calandar on my table that lets my family know exactly where I am with address and phone #'s and who I am working for. My kids are grown and are kind of in and out randomly but one of them is in contact with me daily. They know where to look to find me.
If I am uncomfortable about a situation, I have some one along that stays in the car and slide that information into my conversation with the borrowers if I am still uncomfortableafter meeting them.

Reply by eXpedN_TX on 2/21/06 10:16am
Msg #98599

Re: It's a catch 22

Growing up, my mom, brother, and I had a "code" phrase incase we were in trouble. We lived in a very small home that we rented from Dartmouth College. I called it the "Dexter Shoe Box". Anyway, there was one phone in my parents room and one phone in the kitchen. I only used the phone in the kitchen. If I ever called my mom and said the words "Oops, I just tipped over the cookie jar", that was the code. My mom left a cookie jar on the shelf near the phone. It was in a place that would be difficult to accidently tip over, but if need be, we would have purposely knocked it over without someone knowing.

I think it's a great idea for families to have such a thing in place.

Reply by srnotary_CA on 2/21/06 10:24am
Msg #98605

Re: It's a catch 22

We had the same ting growing up. We also had a word that we used if my parents ever had to have someone else pick us up from school or practices. I always give my hubby the info for where I am going to be. There was a signing or two I wasn't comfortable with and he came with me and sat in the car out front. You can never be too careful. If I am not comfortable I tell him and we figure something out that works for us. If I know I am going into a "bad" area of town and he doesn't follow me he calls my cell within 20 minutes or so of getting there and he asks if its okay and if I say yes then he hangs. If I say yeah he asks what is going on. It helped when I had an upset borrower. He called and I said yeah and he said are they upset and I said yep. He asked if I needed him and I said not yet. He then new to call me back in ten if I had not called him.

It works for us and I just tell the borrower sorry that was my husband he was wondering where such and such is or something to that affect. They usually smile and in the case of the upset borrower he calmed down and signed.

Reply by LilyMD on 2/21/06 11:21am
Msg #98632

Re: It's a catch 22

It can be scary sometimes because of the way we perceive a situation. I am a strong believer in erring on the side of caution. Charm's pepper spray isn't really a bad idea when you think about it.

Reply by BrendaTx on 2/21/06 10:20am
Msg #98603

Charles - a new home-based business?? (j/k)


Charles_Ca tells of a new way to earn money:

>>... there are other notary sites and many people believe that it is easy money fleecing notaries. There are sites out there, some of which have done their research on this site, who have harvested a great deal of information including our profiles. <<

Just kidding everyone...j/k

===================
Last year at this time I was contacted by
Utah authorities (parole/pardons/probation type)
regarding a situation with ID theft.
They wanted to let me know they had found a
packet of info printed off of the 'net and left
between the front door and screen door of
a parolee's last known residence. They had a theory
that someone was gathering info and selling
it to these bad boy types.

The parolee had a bad girl he illegally co-habitated
with and guess what her name is/was?

Not only did they have my info, they also had
another, much more wealthy and successful brenda's info.

If they were going to target a brenda, she'd be
more likely...but hopefully she got protected soon
enough, also.

I alerted the necessary credit places and
told the local police (at the Utah guy's suggestion).

Chances are that they changed their location / residence
before they got my info. This was Utah's theory...that the info had
been dropped off and not reviewed yet by the other brenda.

I discussed with Harry who made me feel a lot better
about having my info online on notaryrotary.com.
Among other info, Harry also told me that
he had records of who all logged into my profile and when.
(Harry was referring to the IP address as a way tie to the person
viewing the profile.)

I contacted the Utah folks again because that seemed like
a good way to help them with leads for finding the
person who had printed the materials - not all the
needed evidence, of course - but anything was more than they
had. Also, this parolee was not showing up for his
meetings w/ the parole office - this was why they
paid a visit. Perhaps the IP infor would help with
catching their parolee, or even local ID theft criminals.

In this case, their eyes were probably glazing over and I could
tell the IP talk flew right over their heads. Logging...
server...user...profile...IP address...forum...I am sure I sounded
like Charlie Brown's teacher, "waaah wah wah wah waaaah."

It makes me want to start a volunteer group to go help
the police with a database of regular people with
a little technical knowledge they could tap into. But, gosh,
if you any kind of a volunteer program for
police it brings out the crazies.

It's like pulling teeth to find volunteers who'll just
answer a question for them, or just give an educated
guess and let them off the phone. More often the
people who will avail themselves to assist are
like Mrs. Kravitz on Bewitched...way too nosy.

On the other hand, you have the ones who know-it-all
and get too critical of others in the group ... forming
volunteer groups for your community is not always
as easy as it sounds.



=====KEEP CALM WHEN YOU GET THESE CALLS=======


[***NOTE: The first thing I did was qualify Utah guy as
truly who they said they were. Got his number and
found the same gov't authority online - matched their phone
numbers and then called him back.

I keep a calm head and do that when anyone
mentions fraud or ID theft, or
credit card abuse to me. Do not overreact to
those types of words/phone calls! Over the past year
I have felt silly a few times making someone give me a
number where I could call them back plus other things
to qualify them. It paid off last month, however.

I will not call back on a cell phone.

I got one of those calls where they were trying to get my
info. They used the fraudulent charges routine. I gave them nothing.
My aunt was upset from the phone call she had gotten last year
which was exactly the same type. She was awakened from a sound
sleep and she spilled her guts.

Then she realized what she had done and
She notified her bank and they
did not respond quickly enough. Her bank
account was cleaned out.

However, they covered her losses, of course.]

Reply by Charles_Ca on 2/21/06 11:54am
Msg #98656

Re: Charles - a new home-based business?? (j/k) You know

that it goes on! Recently, and you know who I'm talking about, someone was posting on this board and harvesting information. This person no longer is allowed because he couldn't keep his hands out of the cookie jar. But it happens. May be going on right now even as we speak !