Protect Yourself from Notario Fraud

What is Notario Fraud?

In many Latin American countries, a "notario" is a licensed attorney with significant legal authority. In the United States, that is not the case.

Notarios in the U.S. are simply notaries public, they are not immigration attorneys and are not licensed to practice law. Unfortunately, some notarios misrepresent themselves to take advantage of immigrants who don't know the difference.

These scammers may even use photos, names, and credentials of real attorneys found online to appear legitimate.

Warning: Scammers may try to mimic legitimate contact information by changing small details, like swapping one digit in a phone number, or replacing an "l" with a "1" in an email address. Always double-check before responding to any communication.

How to Verify a Real Attorney

Any immigration attorney should be actively licensed by a state bar and able to provide proof upon request. You can verify an attorney's license yourself:

Ask for their bar number and the state where they're licensed
Look them up on their state bar's official website
Confirm their license is active and in good standing

If someone claims to be an attorney but cannot provide this information, or if you cannot verify them through official channels, do not work with them.

How to Know You're Communicating with Our Office

If you're considering retaining our services or you've already retained us, here's how to verify any communication is actually from our office:

Official Contact Information

Phone: (813) 365-7015
Email: Only from an @pichardolaw.com address

Zoom Meetings

We use Zoom for video consultations. The invitation may come from @pichardolaw.com, directly from @zoom.us, or from a calendar tool we use.

A legitimate Zoom invitation always follows a scheduled meeting with our office, not out of the blue. If you receive an unexpected Zoom invitation claiming to be from our firm, contact us to verify before joining.

Case Management System: Clio

Our office uses Clio as our case management system. If you retain us, you may receive legitimate emails from Clio: including invoices, payment receipts, document signing requests, and client portal invitations.

Clio emails may come from addresses ending in @clio.com. Clio will never ask for your password by email. Any payment request, regardless of method, will come through an official Clio invoice or directly from a @pichardolaw.com email.

Official Social Media

These are the only official accounts for our firm. Any other account using my name, photo, or contact information is not ours.

Facebook: facebook.com/pichardolaw
Instagram: @pichardolaw
X: @pichardolaw
Bluesky: @pichardolaw.bsky.social
TikTok: @pichardolaw
YouTube: @pichardolaw

We will never request payment through social media. If someone claiming to be from our office asks for money via Facebook Messenger, Instagram, TikTok, or any other social platform, it's a scam.

We do not use WhatsApp. We will never contact you via WhatsApp about your case, costs, or any other matter. Any message on WhatsApp claiming to be from our office is fake.

All firm communications and requests will only come from the official channels listed above. If you've retained us, you'll receive a welcome packet with contact information, including any additional forms of communication our office may use to discuss your case.

If you're unsure: If you ever receive a suspicious message claiming to be from our office: whether by phone, email, text, payment request, or any other method, please contact us directly at (813) 365-7015 or info@pichardolaw.com to verify before responding or sending money.