Elders Scammed

Dozens of elderly people had been scammed out of their apartments in new get-rich-quick schemes disguised as investment programs, due to the involvement of three notary offices in Beijing, by late July, 2017. In August, the Ministry of Justice prohibited notary offices from providing services to those over 60 who want to authorize others to sell their houses, unless they are accompanied by their adult children. In addition, the whole notarial process has to be recorded on video and any notarization services for applicants whose identities are not verified are banned. Fangzheng Notary Public Office, which was involved in the scams, has suspended its business and its head was dismissed. To date, China is home to 13,145 notaries, and notary offices nationwide issued nearly 140 million notarized documents, generating an income of 4.7 billion yuan (US$225 million) in 2016. Experts cautioned that current accreditation, notification and delivery procedures are flawed, and there is an urgent need to regulate the management and misconduct of some notary offices before an efficient warning system can be established to prevent vulnerable groups being defrauded.