Posted by Dmitri/SD/CA on 2/2/10 12:44am
Msg #320671

michele rodriguez [e-mail address] 808-306-3137

Hello folks,

I've received a strange loan signing request this evening. A female posing as a "Michele Rodriguez" with a Yahoo e-mail address [e-mail address] called me on my cell phone from 808-306-3137 (this area code is located in Honolulu, Hawaii, by the way!!) and offered a "signing in Lakeside, tomorrow" stating that they were a "Buyer's Broker" (neither an Escrow Company nor a Signing Service) and further explaining that they were trying to save some money on the signing because "the Escrow Charges around $350.00 for the signing" so it would be "much cheaper if they went directly to the Signing Agent." The female said she wanted to "coordinate the signing" outside of the Escrow altogether (stating the Escrow comapny was in Costa Mesa), and offered $150.00 for the signing. Further, she followed up with a fairly unprofessional e-mail from her "[e-mail address]" e-mail account, that read: "hey dimitri, just a test e-mail to make sure i have your e-mail correct!!!!!!" That's it. No signature, no "thank you", nothing.

I did some research, and found these facts:

1) This e-mail address is associated with a Craigslist posting called "WE STOP FORECLOSURES (Orange County)"; see http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/lgs/1534719839.html

2) The e-mail address apparently belongs to a 36-year-old female by the name of "Michele R" who lives in Newport Beach, CA

3) Again, the phone number beginning with 808-306 is a Nextel mobile phone located in Honolulu, Hawaii

4) The person's e-mail address is [e-mail address], which anyone could easily create

5) The person is not going through normal / standard signing channels, where the signing is requested by the Escrow either directly or through a Signing Service

Taking all these factors into account, this request smells to me awfully like bogus / spoof / attempted fraud.

Please let me know if it sounds the same to you. Is anyone else familiar with this "Michele Rodriguez" ?

Thank you,

Dmitri

Reply by CopperheadVA on 2/2/10 6:40am
Msg #320691

If it were me, I would pass on this one.

Doesn't sound like she's provided any contact info, such as address, where you could send an invoice. I've found that those who do not provide the standard confirmation information also tend not to pay in a standard way. No web presence either, besides the Craig's list and foreclosure ad.

Reply by Dmitri/SD/CA on 2/2/10 9:19am
Msg #320712

Thank you, CooperheadVA. I figured as much.

Since there's no legally-enforced escrow protection of my notary signing agent payment on this one, I've requested a payment for the signing upfront (right at the signing appointment) with certified funds. I have gotten another (disturbed, presumably) phone call from this "Michele Rodriguez" at 11:22pm, yet never got to the phone: after 3 rings, she hung up the line. I've never heard from her again.

I now assume this was indeed a failed attempt at a scam.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Reply by Cari on 2/2/10 9:28am
Msg #320714

I dunno...I would've asked for more information on her and

her brokerage firm, website, mailing information. Then I would've checked out their website. In my experience, if an established doesn't have a put together website, its not a company I'd work with.

I've done work for brokerages before, no problem. There's usually an assigning attorney working on the loan. I've been put on the HUD (no POC) and have had no problems, so far.

Maybe you should've dug deeper and asked her more pertinent information...you could've lost a good potential new client....but from what you've posted, very little on her, there's not to much to go on.

Reply by Dmitri/SD/CA on 2/2/10 2:08pm
Msg #320799

Re: I dunno...I would've asked for more information on her and

Thank you for your post.

Could you please elaborate a little bit on the mechanics of working with a brogerage firm / with an assigning attorney / being put on the HUD (no POC)?

Thank you again for your feedback.

Reply by Notarysigner on 2/2/10 9:36am
Msg #320716

I would have said sure, because I've never worked for you before, pay me in advance.....and then listened very carefully to her answer. It's not a crime to notarize signatures with proper ID. IMO

Reply by Dmitri/SD/CA on 2/2/10 1:47pm
Msg #320793

Thank you. Yes, her reply came in in the form of a 3-ring phone call at 11:22pm, with no voice message left. This leads me to believe that she had nothing to say, really. Again, I haven't heard from her since.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 2/2/10 9:43am
Msg #320722

Curious how she's avoiding escrow in an escrow state

The area code of the cell phone, IMO, is no big deal - I had a CT area code for my first year here in FL - to me that's not an issue...

The rest really raises eyebrows...not only in an escrow state, but how do you avoid escrow and ensure all the proper docs are signed? Maybe there's mechanics in play in CA that I'm unaware of but I'm not sure it can be done.

Maybe it's a personal deal and that's why she's trying to cut the costs.

I think I would have passed too..

A very humble opinion from a Floridian (table-funding state..<G>

Reply by Dmitri/SD/CA on 2/2/10 1:52pm
Msg #320796

Re: Curious how she's avoiding escrow in an escrow state

Thank you.

Just to be clear, I don't think she was avioding escrow altogether, she just didn't want the Escrow company to coordinate the signing with a notary signing agent. Which is not a good news to me; if it's done through the escrow, I know I (or my Signing Service, at least) will get paid, sine the escrow has a legal obligation to distribute funds at escrow close. Doing the signing outside of it having been coordinated by the escrow, though, seems a little suspicious, in that I have no assurance of getting paid for the signing. Hence my request to her for a payment up-front and with certified funds. I have no info on her, and no way to check her reputation.

Thank you again for your feedback.

Reply by Dmitri/SD/CA on 2/2/10 3:52pm
Msg #320811

Thanks for everyone who has replied so far.

I just had this "Michele Rodriguez" give me a call again, after she received my voice mail and e-mail to her requesting more information on the Escrow Company (which, according to her, will be making that payment for the signing to me) and explaining my motives behind needing to assure how the signing agent payment will be handled. This alleged "Michele Rodriguez" started by asking me how long I've been doing signings; then, having heard my answer, told me that she was in business for "the whole 22 years" (!!! - really?!) and progressed on to saying that she was taking offense in my asking her for her website address or mailing address as well as for the Escrow information, that no other notaries she has worked with so far ever asked her about that (I find that hard to believe), and told me she was also taking offense in my seeming to imply with all this that I thought that she was "trying to pull some sort of a scam" (she actually said that herself!). Notice, after giving her my length in service as a Signing Agent, I haven't said another word; I've just kept on listening to her. She progressed on to being furious, yelling and screaming, calling me "dude" and "guy" (very unprofessional, and it gave her away right there) and finally saying "peace out" and hanging up on me. She'd never even given me an opportunity to state that I'm running a business, not a non-profit, and to mention the need to preserve the integrity of my business as well as the integrity of the whole transaction, on my part, through due diligence.

I believe that this, now, positively confirms her true intentions. And I don't think they were simply to "coordinate" the signing instead of the Escrow.

Please write back if you have additional comments.

Reply by jba/fl on 2/2/10 4:43pm
Msg #320830

she really sounds like those load mod people...lol. n/m

Reply by Dmitri/SD/CA on 2/5/10 2:42pm
Msg #321465

Re: she really sounds like those load mod people...lol.

She does? How do they usually sound?

Reply by CopperheadVA on 2/2/10 5:34pm
Msg #320850

Wow, Dmitri, that's just crazy that she acted that way! Good for you and glad you did not end up doing the signing for her. If she's been in biz for 22 years, then she ought to know by now how to properly contract a notary signing agent for services.

You were absolutely right to ask more questions, as she did not provide an address or anything. There was one time I can remember a couple of years ago, I got a rush call for a signing that night. It was from a loan officer in CA. I took the job and only later realized after the fact that the confirm did not have any contact info besides a yahoo email address. I did not get a shipping label, and even though the L/O asked me to ship on my dime and get reimbursed later, I refused. I ended up sending the package to the TC as bill receiver, but without an account number because I was not provided one (I put TC as both shipper and receiver on the handwritten airbill). Well, the loan didn't fund for some reason and the L/O was EXTREMELY difficult to get a hold of. I kept pursuing and pursuing with every contact I could find in the loan package (TC, lender, broker, etc) and I FINALLY got paid with a money order from the L/O. WHAT A HASSLE!!!

So, lesson learned, now I don't do business with people who schedule jobs with me in a sketchy manner.

Reply by Dmitri/SD/CA on 2/5/10 2:43pm
Msg #321466

I agree. And, yes, I'm glad about that, too. Thank you, CopperheadVA