UPS Class Action Lawsuit Allowed to Continue

A New Jersey class action lawsuit against UPS has cleared the bar and is allowed to proceed. The allegations are that UPS, and some of its franchises, overcharged for notary services.

In New Jersey the maximum fee is $2.50 per notarial act. UPS is alleged to have charged up to $15 per act. Was it put into a direct fee? No. It was hidden behind the surface as “notary convenience” or “clerical fee”.

The courts in New Jersey have ruled to let the lawsuit move forward. This is on the heels of the same action in Illinois. In both cases the courts found that the lawsuit had merit, based on the grounds of consumer protection.

Chief Judge Renée Marie Bumb denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Regarding the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Both the UPS Store Inc and franchises are defendants in the lawsuit. The court found the plaintiffs plausibly alleged that the agency had enough merit that the relationship between UPS Store corporate and its franchisees to allow a vicariously liability theory to proceed.

While UPS Store corporate is targeted in the lawsuit, they still may not be involved in the end result. This is based on if they had knowledge of the situation, and how it was handled between the corporate offices and the franchisees.

The plaintiffs alleged that TUPSS (The UPS Store Inc.) requires New Jersey franchisees to offer notary services, mandates the number of notaries available during operating hours, requires franchisees to use a standardized point-of-sale system with TUPSS-approved SKU codes, provides extensive training on notary services, and monitors transactional data including the amounts charged for notary services. The plaintiffs further alleged that TUPSS oversees advertising and marketing for notary services and maintains a customer-service department that sometimes issues refunds directly to customers regarding notary-service charges.

Buchalter

UPS Class Action Lawsuit Allowed to Continue

Plaintiffs purchased notary services at New Jersey UPS stores and, in class action complaints, alleged they were charged an amount that exceeded the $2.50 fee permitted by New Jersey law. Neither complaint alleged that the amount in controversy exceeded $5 million. During discovery, while an appeal from the denial of a motion to dismiss was pending, UPS produced a spreadsheet showing that the New Jersey UPS stores had more than one million notary transactions during the six-year class period, which established an amount in controversy that satisfied federal jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA). UPS removed both complaints to federal court. The district court remanded, reasoning that UPS could have performed the required calculation when the spreadsheet was produced in December 2020, so the removal petitions filed months later were untimely. The court did not consider whether CAFA’s local controversy exception required remand.

Justia

As stated, this does not just affect New Jersey, but Illinois has a similar case result as well. This is bringing allegations in multiple states, and the class action lawsuits are sure to spread to other states.

This points to the integrity of the system at UPS for their notary services. People need to make sure they use people that they can rely on to do the job correctly, and charge fees legally allowed by law.

If you are in the Hudson area of Florida, you are always welcome to get your documents signed at our office located at 13939 Lakeshore Blvd. Suite 101, Hudson, FL 34667. You can depend on Sunshine Signing to get it right every time.

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AI and the Mobile Notary – Part Two

In our previous post we talked about artificial intelligence and the benefits it can provide to a notary. But, something great can also be a double edged sword. In this article we will take a brief look at the downsides of AI when it comes to notaries.

Unfortunately, such an easy tool that benefit notaries can also be used by those with bad intentions. And if we are not ready for those, they can come back and bite us in the rear.

Images for Identity

An emerging type of fraud comes with the identity of the signer.

Artificial intelligence goes beyond text, it can be used for images as well.

Enter the fake forms of identification. AI can be used to create fake passports with astounding accuracy, which is also spilling into other forms of identity. On a remote signing, AI can even make a signer sound like the actual individual.

There are a few instances of this popping up, but fortunately it is not widespread, at least yet.

We have talked a lot about people using fake identities to steal houses and other high value items. And this was before artificial intelligence made it easier.

The fact is, even the best notaries can be fooled, which makes following best practices a must.

How Do I Identify a Fraudulent Signer?

That is the $64,000 question.

With the accuracy of fake ID’s, passports leading the way, it will get harder and harder to distinguish an actual signer from a real one. So following best practices is a must. Instead of giving a signer’s ID a once over, give it a twice over. Make sure the live signature matches the one on their ID. It is much more difficult to sign a document correctly, and most states have the signature on the ID.

And to further protect yourself, make sure your logs are completed and all the I’s are dotted and t’s are crossed. Anything that may cause problems, make sure they do not. Do not let yourself get dragged into anything that may be sketchy.

Software

Will facial recognition help notaries stop fraud?

Emerging software is trying to address this problem. Beyond security questions they are also implementing facial recognition to confirm the signer. But, that is difficult.

The fact is that security questions have been broken for a long time by saavy hackers. The type of people who may try to do a fraudulent signing.

Beyond that, these operations are not usually one person, but a collective of people looking to crack the code. With the amount of money potentially involved, multiple people are easily involved.

Another aspect is facial recognition. But, again, if I have my own photo on a passport, and I am at the signing, that is a difficult problem to overcome.

We expect better tools to hit the market, but exactly when a potentially foolproof system is found is not known. And if we’ve learned anything from previous signings, there may never be a foolproof system.

Protect Yourself

Again, make sure you do everything right. Double check things when needed. Understand potential signers may be hackers and take a little more time when needed. Make sure your logs are pristine.

The fact is that this emerging threat is a tough one to overcome. So doing everything in your power to make sure you are protected at every single signing.

AI and the Mobile Notary

The rise of AI/Artificial Intelligence technology brings its own upsides and downsides for notaries.

In this article we are going to focus on the upsides, whereas we’ll be focusing on the downsides shortly.

Automation

The biggest bonus is in the area of automation. It’s an easy concept to almost understand, but real world applications may be more difficult to think of.

One of the easiest is to set schedules for yourself. For example, you might to promote yourself through social media, but what are the best times to post for maximum effect. Just head on over to ChatGPT or a competitor to find a desirable result.

Just ask it about what times are best for each network. Then ask it to make a schedule for when and what you should post to receive maximum results. But, how do I do that?

Prompts

AI generated results can streamline your business.

One thing we run across is people looking for the right prompts. A prompt is a set of words used to input into the artificial intelligence system. While they seem complex, in reality they are quite simple to use.

AI is there to answer questions, have a conversation and even to dive deeper into the knowledge of the web.

A prompt is simply a question you ask your AI program. They can be done conversationally. They don’t rely on keywords like search engines, but providing specific answers to questions.

For example, on a search engine, one might type in “best time to post on Facebook.” A prompt may look like “I run a small notary business. What times do you think are best to post there, and what type of content should I post?”

Remember, you are having a conversation.

Your AI program should then give you a succinct answer to your question. It is highly concise and accurate (in most cases), giving you the information you need to in seconds. This varies from the search engine, as it is quicker. You don’t have to spend too much time looking for germane results.

Now let’s take this to the next level.

I don’t want just an overview of what to post, but I want a more specific schedule I can refer to that tells me what to post and when. Even the type of post, be it a serious sell, or a more jovial subject like a meme or joke (just make sure people know it is a joke, lol).

So I open up ChatGPT and ask it about what I should post for a given social media site. Then I ask it to create a schedule I can follow to achieve the most results. Remember, we are not just looking for keywords here, just ask them a question just like you would ask a friend. Before you know it, you have created a highly effective schedule for your social media.

What About My Content

Your content should focus on answering specific questions, not just keywords. In fact, keywords, as in an a search engine optimization strategy, are not how AI works. If you see from this article we are focusing on answering questions, not just keywords.

Just answer questions you might types into the AI program. It really is that simple. I might even go to an AI program and ask it what are the most common prompts used for mobile notaries. The AI program will give you answers to that question, too.

Other Uses of AI

Sometimes what you write is a masterpiece, other times it may need some help. So why not use AI for an email? Just put in your email text and ask it to make it more concise, or readable, more professional or whatever you think you need. You might even be able to do this simply on your phone.

How about your text on your experience? A virtual resume so to speak. AI can do that, too. It may focus on areas you never thought about, or make a skill or experience more prominent.

The key here is the sky is the limit. You can use AI to boost yourself and your business. And you should look into doing so.

Notary Seals Stolen in Seattle

In a not so good development, a Seattle based mailing service had theft occur against them. Among the items were notary seals.

Lake Union Mail saw mail, credit cards and notary seals stolen. Stealing mail is a federal offense, making the break in a high stakes endeavor.

Notary Seals

But, let’s focus on the notary seals. Replacements can be offered, but that does not put the seals completely out of the woods.

Video footage shows two offenders breaking in with a crowbar and grabbing whatever they can. Since the store has packages everywhere, they seemed to grab the easiest of the pickings.

The question that has not been answered so far is if the notary seals were for employees or if other notaries were affected. If other notaries were affected, it could cause more problems.

Why?

If we don’t know whose seals were stolen, how are they to be tracked down? Of course, individual notaries who have not received their expected seal should contact the proper authorities in the state to report the suspected incident.

What About the Meantime?

Of course, the signings of the affected notaries will have to be audited. Will they be used in future endeavors of the thieves, or maybe they sell them off to someone who can better use them. The more we don’t know who is involved, the more complicated the problem may be.

Then there is the issue of backdating documents. If you remember, in the housing crisis of 2007, many backdated documents became the center of attention.

Are we too Weary?

The fact of the matter, with such little information, it is tough to report on.

Are we being over reactive? Maybe.

But, we want to make sure notaries understand the possibilities here. May some of them not apply? We don’t know. But, if we don’t give you the whole picture, then we might be missing a crucial piece of information.

And the sour part is if it happened to them, it could happen to you in the future.

Here is to hoping the suspects are caught and convicted.