Knowing that notary signing agents are scrambling for whatever available work they can find right now, scammers/phishers have ramped up their tactics via email to reel in unsuspecting NSAs on the pretense of a potential signing job. I’ve received several versions of this same email recently from different “law firms” on the East Coast. Please be wary of any emails you receive from signing service companies or other entities you’ve not worked with before, offering you signing jobs that are not specific (“refinance AND purchase”??). Do not reply to these emails or click on any links in the email.
You will notice in the email below that there are many mistakes in language and punctuation, which is always a red flag, along with the private Hotmail email address the email comes from (not a company address). Since the TO: field is empty in the email, this means the person sending it BCC’d a list of recipients – it’s not directed a me specifically but probably a long list of notaries, in hopes that someone will bite on the opportunity and get sucked into whatever scam they’ve got going on. All of us need to know the basics when it comes to identifying phishing emails – and these are all classic elements of a phishing email.
I have some client that needs to sign a few docs on Friday for a private loan refinance and purchase in your County. Do you have availability for this? Please advise and let me know your fee?I will reply as soon as i can because i would be in closing all through today.
Thanks,
Thank You,
Daniela Roca
Legal Assistant
The Vantage Law Firm, LLC
11 Broadway #615,
New York, NY 10004
Did you confirm with the law firm that this is a sham? Since their website states they streamline the process of commercial loans, it’s very possible it’s refi of an existing loan (immediate funding) along with the purchase of new commercial property. Also possible for residential loans too.
I also would not discount a hotmail account; the attorney I just recently worked with for 3-4 years had a hotmail account - he was legit; the other attorney I worked for ten years ago had a gmail account - he was legit too.
Although I agree with you this probably is another of those scam offers, don’t write it off as such without checking further directly with the law firm.
I agree with you that it’s always a good idea to independently scope out the legitimacy of any emailed offers for work, which is what I also did with this email (although I did not discuss this in the earlier post). It would be great to confirm directly with the law firm, but notice there is no phone number provided in the email (another flag) – so the only way to call them is to look them up online, which I did. There is no law firm in New York City by the name of The Vantage Law Firm, LLC. There is a “Vantage Law Group” (notice the similarity as well as subtle difference in the name) that provides legal services for commercial real estate transactions, but their office is in Minneapolis, MN, not New York. And while law firms or independent attorneys may utilize Gmail or Hotmail for their email domains, there is usually at least a passing nod at the person’s name or company contained in the email address somewhere – this is basic 101 legitimization for any company setting up their email account. This email address has none of that. And as I mentioned in the post, the verbiage of this email is EXACTLY the same verbiage with the same mistakes that I’ve received in recent weeks from other legal assistants from other law firms . . . none of which are actually located at the address listed in the email or by the exact firm name listed in the email. What it comes down to is exercising some healthy skepticism, doing research independently from clicking on any links contained in the email, and making sure you check out the company before responding via email. I’ve recently read about notaries who did not do that and ended up with hacked email and malware – never fun to deal with. Hence, the warning for the newbies!
@spagel Thanks, Susan, for the additional details.
Of note, I just received a similar email ALSO from Daniela Roca from email: jollofsquad20201 @outlook.com
Appears to be the “same” email (cut 'n paste) . . . including errors => see below.
= = = = = =
"Good Afternoon,
I have some client that needs to sign a few docs on Friday for a private loan refinance and purchase in your County. Do you have availability for this? Please advise and let me know your fee?I will reply as soon as i can because i would be in closing all through today.
Thanks,
–
Thank You,
Daniela Roca
Legal Assistant
The Vantage Law Firm, LLC
11 Broadway #615,
New York, NY 10004"
I have received the same email. The punctuation was incorrect…nothing capitalized, it was very vague. I assumed it was not on the “up and up” and deleted it. Now I see, I made the right decision. Thank you for posting the warnings!
I received an offer from a TX law firm. It had no phone number to contact them. It had no signer information or location. That was enough for me to reject it.
OMG
Thank you sooo much for this information. I received an NSA from Daniela Roco as well and felt it was fake. I love how you guys post vital information about the scams. I am new and could easily be fooled. This information you’ve given is paramount in new NSA’s success. “God” Bless you.
Thank you soo much really appreciate everyone’s help on this. I thought it could be real, but I had my doubts because who sends things like this without a contact phone #. That’s where the doubts came in…
I’ve received this same email twice in the last 3 weeks. The first time I got it, I responded with email questions because everything appeared so vague. Never got any response so assumed it was a scam. Got a similar one this week. Glad I didn’t click the link.
Yes, This is so very TRUE!! I got this SAME EXACT Email last week to the letter!! Also be aware of overseas email wanting to so-called collaborate with you as well. Have discernment at ALL times!! Always research the company that contacts you…FIRST!!!
Keep in mind that we are EXTENDING CREDIT to any entity from which we obtain a signing. Therefore it behooves us to do our due diligence by researching these entities BEFORE we accept. Alternately, we could ask for payment up front.
