Making a duplicate stamp is pretty difficult in California. For what it's worth, notary stamps can only be made in this state by companies authorized by the SOS to do so. They're assigned a number which has to appear on every stamp they produce so the maker of the stamp is identified on every image produced. They're also not allowed to create a stamp without the requestor providing a Letter of Authorization issued by the SOS's office, so there's also a record of every legal request for creation of a notary stamp. (The penalties are pretty stiff for making illegal notary stamps.) It's been a couple of years since I've had to request a new stamp, but that Letter of Authorization used to come with a gold seal embossed by the SOS office, so all in all, pretty tough to duplicate.
Otherwise, I pretty much agree. I have, however, been told that someone else referred them to me, without knowing who. At least once, I think it was another notary who wasn't available. (They didn't say 'a friend', though...  )
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