This internet based company offers notary services online. This is ILLEGAL in California and many other states. Here's a link to the California Secretary of State website and comment on this ILLEGAL service: http://www.sos.ca. Gov/business/notary/customer-alert.htm
A person must appear IN PERSON before a Notary Public when having their signature notarized. They must present a valid, government issued ID and sign the document in the Notary Public's presence. Web cam & video notarizations - where the document signer does not have to be present before the Notary Public, but uploads their ID and document online and sees a Notary online through a web camera - only serves to support identity theft, general fraud, real estate fraud, and elder abuse.
Your ID can be stolen, then the crook can use photo shop type programs to replace your ID photo with theirs, upload that online, appear on camera before a Notary and sign your name, thus impersonating you. Or, the crook could wear wigs, fake mustaches, and other disguises - photo shop that photo onto your ID, get a grant deed notarized online conveying YOUR REAL PROPERTY to them, have it recorded and now you're in a legal fight to get your property back.
Do NOT have your documents notarized online - it is ILLEGAL in California and many other states, the internet company owner has been told this, yet they have refused to remove the site. Whichever state you're in, do a search for that state's SOS. Verify that it is legal in that state (which I highly doubt) before you engage in online notarizations.
The purpose of having your signature notarized IN PERSON before the Notary is the prevent fraud - the Notary exams the ID to check for tampering, watches you sign and has you sign their journal (in state's where a journal is required). This ensures that the person signing the document is the one who is supposed to be signing the document. Web cam / video notarizations throw these safety checks right out the window! An ID uploaded online cannot be personally examined to see if it has been tampered with nor can the person signing be observed for unusual behavior such as nervousness, non-understanding of what they are signing, or asked questions to ensure that they are the person named in the document who should be signing the document.
Don't be an identity theft, fraud, elder abuse or real estate fraud victim! Do NOT utilize any web cam/video notarization. See a Notary Public IN person in your town.
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