Module 5

Fraud, ethics and liability: red flags, money laundering, conflicts, secrecy and what happens when things go wrong

Because a notary’s stamp tells the world that a document can be trusted, notaries are targets. Fraudsters want a stamp on a forged power of attorney. Launderers want a respectable deed to clean money. A greedy relative wants a vulnerable person’s signature. Many countries therefore give notaries duties that go beyond the single act: to know who they are dealing with, to understand the transaction, to notice when something is wrong and, in many places, to report suspicion to the authorities. This module is about those duties and the ethics that go with them. It uses a tool, the Transaction Red Flags, that adds up warning signs, and it covers conflicts of interest, professional secrecy and its limits, liability and insurance, discipline and what to do when you make a mistake. The flags and weights are teaching devices. No single flag proves anything, the reporting rules differ widely and a notary follows the law, the professional body’s guidance and the advice of the compliance officer.

General education on the work of a notary across legal systems, using invented people, offices and cases. It is not legal or career advice. The acts a notary may perform, the form of certificates and deeds, the checks required, the reporting duties, the rules for documents used abroad and the routes into the profession differ between countries and change: check the rules that apply to you with the notarial authority and the profession.