Tonight, I received a suspicious order request on Notary Dash from someone claiming to be Justin with InvestorBootz, a signing service out of Southern California. The request involved:
Traveling to Crosby, MN for interior and exterior property photos.
Installing a lockbox at a property.
Confirming my home shipping address so they could send a lockbox, or providing a nearby Lowe’s location for pickup.
Taking photos and a short video after installing the lockbox, and sending them via WhatsApp to 925‑331‑8521.
The pay was listed as $120–$160, but the request itself is not a legitimate notary assignment. It involved handling keys, accessing property, and giving personal address information—all huge red flags.
When I refused, I was threatened with profile deactivation on Notary Dash.
Key warning signs:
Requests outside normal notary duties (photos, lockbox setup, keys).
Asking for personal address information.
Pressure to comply with unusual instructions.
Threats for refusing.
Communication via WhatsApp and phone numbers outside the platform.
Do NOT accept any orders like this. This is not a legitimate signing service order—it is likely a scam. Protect your personal information, your property, and your safety.
I wanted to share this so other notaries on Notary Dash don’t fall for the same scam.
It’s not a scam, it’s a real company. Whether or not you want to do that type of work is up to you, but it is a real job and they do pay. You have to send an invoice to their accounting department to get paid. I have done a few jobs for them. Two of those jobs were similar as your request. They order and pay for the lockbox and you pick it up at your local Lowe’s. It’s not hard work, but some of the property’s you will go to, are either vacant and filled with stuff left behind by the previous occupant or they are lived in but not well taken care of. Usually I spend less than an hour at the site. There is a couple of forms you fill out and they use WhatsApp or a Goggle drive link they send you to upload the photos and video.
I agree with @Arichter - many odd job requests will come your way that do not make them illegal or a scam. Depending on which Notary Dash you’re talking about - from what I’ve read (no personal experience) there are two - one is very legitimate and decent to work for - the other is a whole other ball of wax and is to be avoided at all costs.
However, I am going to question @takenotenotaryservices - you said “but some of the property’s you will go to, are either vacant and filled with stuff left behind by the previous occupant or they are lived in but not well taken care of.” - how is it legal and legitimate to put a lockbox on a property where someone is still living or who still has personal items in the property. This is something I would be very wary of doing - I feel this is more the responsibility of either law enforcement or the actual property owner (if a rental) - or a representative of the lender accompanied by law enforcement. IMO a single notary should not take on the responsibility of doing this.
You don’t put a lockbox on a property that is lived in, only on a vacant property. The lockbox is the same as a realtor would place on your house if you were selling it. In this case it is for property investors to be able to view the property as a perspective buyer. These properties are cash purchase properties so there is not a lender or real estate agent involved. Law enforcement is not going to place a lockbox on a door of any property that is for sale. The only responsibility you have is taking the pictures and video and filling out the form, and in this specific example placing the lockbox on the door. I have done one job where I had to place the lockbox and the property owner meet me there to give me access to the property and to give me a key to place in the lockbox. The property owner doesn’t pay for the lockbox directly, just as you wouldn’t pay directly for a lockbox your real estate agent would put on your door. This company, and those like it are hired by the property owner to source perspective investors. Investors work with these companies to find properties for sale. As far as personal items left at the property, those are items that were abandoned by the previous tenant. Mostly trash and damaged items.
It’s a real company and a real request. Some contractors prefer notaries since we’ve passed a background check and are already trusted with financial data. But I’m not an installer. I’m left-handed and can barely unscrew the top off a bottle.
There are door knock requests, photo requests, video of property requests. You can always just decline these sorts of jobs.
InvestorBootz - you should do a thread search. They get discussed as slow pay like glacial slow.
They can be slow pay, especially since a lot of the signing jobs we do we don’t have to send an invoice after the job. Their pay terms in my experience have been 21 days. Once it hits day 22 I send an email reminder of payment due and have been paid shortly after. The last job I did (with the lockbox) ended up being two structures on the property and they increased my fee and paid me 3 days later, as they promised. So, like with other companies we may work with, sometimes you do have to send an email reminder. I am not advocating anybody work with them, I was just saying it is a legitimate company and not a scam.
Hi all, I have been intending to ask about this company. I have received several notifications but declined. Thanks for putting this info out here, for us to have the info and read real & true experiences about and then make our on decisions about! Again, this forum is awesome!
I liken this InvestorBootz arrangement for notaries kind of like a beat cop taking on an inspector’s role. I wouldn’t do it for the cheap $$ they pay and the long wait to get paid.
This was actually an issue for me. I was told to put a lockbox on a property (back when I was willing to accept jobs like this from them). I got to the house to find a tenant inside. He was NOT happy to hear that I would be putting a lockbox on the home he was still living in. I called the contact THEY assigned me and she told me to just had the lockbox over to the Tennant. I was later told by InvestorBootz that I had failed to meet the job requirements. They also sent me back multiple times to take pictures of things not on the original order (like a shed they didn’t know about). I was in tears by the time I got done with the job. And to add insult to injury, I recently learned that InvestorBootz has labeled me as “rude” and difficult to work with.
They recently reached out directly, asking me to take a job that nobody wanted. When I agreed to take it, someone got back to me alerting me to the fact that I had been marked as “rude” (that’s how I learned about my “file” with them). I told them how upsetting the experience had been and also mentioned that there were other jobs I had taken at that time that I still hadn’t been paid for (despite multiple invoices being sent). They apologized and we agreed to part-ways peacefully. I then (a few hours later) received a desperate request for a last-minute assignment. I explained what had transpired and the individual apologized multiple times, telling me they were reconsidering their practices and convinced me to take the job. Then he ghosted me.
I honestly have never worked with/for such an unprofessional group of people, but somehow, I’m the “rude” one.
I do a lot of work for investor bootz. They assign signing agents for two reasons.. The first being that we are insured and background checked. The second being that sometimes there are forms that need notarized. The jobs are not hard at all, and they pay on time. The only issue I’ve ever had was that sometimes the houses are dirty and have bugs. I did an assessment a few months ago on a house that the back section of the house had burned. They told me the house had had a fire. No one could have known the house had a flea infestation. Investor bootz adjusted my pay to cover the cost of having my van treated for fleas. They also told me if I ever feel a property is unsafe not to enter the property because my safety is the top priority. I actually really like doing assessments for them, as there is usually no printing or preparation of documents. You simply submit the photos on WhatsApp before you leave the property. Many companies hire signing agents to do different tasks. I also do GPS installations, assist with heavy equipment inspections, and deliver collection letters to businesses for a company called Aspen field services on snapdocs, and do I9 verification for a company called N3.
Do NOT accept any orders like this. This is not a legitimate signing service order—it is likely a scam. Protect your personal information, your property, and your safety.